MONROVIA, May 30 (LINA) – On the Observance of International Menstrual Hygiene Day, Vice President Jewel Howard-Taylor introduces and donates reusable and washable pant pads to four high schools in Monrovia.
The International Hygiene Day is globally observed on May 28 to break the silence around menstrual health and hygiene.
The four schools, according to a release from the Office of the VP, include the Haywood Mission School, Christ the King Catholic School, William V.S. Tubman High and the MuslimCongress High School.
Speaking when her office, in collaboration with the Jewel Starfish Foundation, launched the Sanitary Pads Bank, she lobbied international partners to improve sanitary provisions in schools to ensure that periods would not disrupt girls’ education from participating or continuing to attend school.
She further called on local and international donor institutions, including UNFPA, to strongly consider the availability of free sanitary pads for women and girls.
“Being absent from school because you have your periods are also obstacles to equality between women and men. It reinforces the view that women and girls have less claim to public spaces,” the Liberian Vice President said.
Madam Howard-Taylor and the team demonstrated the hygienic use of the materials donated while encouraging the girls to remain free and open when experiencing this natural phenomenon.
In the demonstration on the use of the pads, particularly the reusable and washable panties pads, the Vice President told the students that the pants are a sustainable sanitary option but must be hygienically washed and dried in the sunlight.
She assured the school authorities of monthly supplies of sanitary pads through the gender officer in the office of the Vice President.
Meanwhile, authorities of the beneficiary schools thanked the Vice President and partners for the donation, terming it laudable.
