By Adebayo Ruth
The First Lady of Kwara State, Professor Olufolake AbdulRazaq, has officially launched the Flow With Confidence Initiative, a menstrual hygiene programme targeted at young girls across the state.
The initiative, powered by the Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI) launched simultaneously in Borno, Cross River, Ekiti, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Kebbi, Lagos and Kwara States.
Speaking at the launch, which held in Ilorin, Professor Olufolake AbdulRazaq, who represented the First Lady of Nigeria, Senator Oluremi Tinubu emphasized the urgent need to ensure access to sanitary products for every girl and explained that the vital menstrual health intervention was designed to empower school girls by promoting knowledge, dignity, and confidence through improved menstrual hygiene.
Professor AbdulRazaq noted that poor menstrual hygiene is mainly caused by lack of education, persisting taboos and stigma, with limited access to hygienic menstrual products and poor sanitation infrastructure, which undermines the educational opportunities, health and overall social status of women and girls.
She also noted that millions of women and girls are somewhat deterred from reaching their full potential, adding that the World Bank stated that “an estimated 500 million people worldwide lack access to basic menstrual products and hygienic bathroom facilities for use during their menstrual cycle. It is this lack of access that is known as “period poverty”.
She said that students from across all parts of Kwara State have benefited from the ten thousand menstrual packs of one year supply of disposable sanitary pads, explaining that it is crucial that the local government chairmen take ownership of the intervention, scale up and ensure that supplies get directly to deserving girls in rural communities without selling it.
She called on corporate organizations, parastatals, and agencies, as well as well-meaning Nigerians to key into the Flow with Confidence programme to empower and reach as many girls as possible.
She urged traditional, religious and community leaders, to support and monitor the distribution exercise in their communities to ensure that girls grow into responsible and informed adults and enjoined the students to imbibe the ideals of sound menstrual hygiene and maximize the items judiciously.
In her remarks, the State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Hajia Saadat Modibbo-Kawu said some girls who attend school resort to using unsafe and unhygienic alternatives, while others stay at home altogether, falling behind in their studies and, in some cases, eventually drop out of school. She therefore lauded the initiative and appreciated the First Lady.
Students from different communities in Kwara State who benefited from the initiative appreciated the First Lady for her constant support and harmoniously appreciated and lauded her generous support.
