Following the start of a 3G project in Accra, about 30,000 school-aged girls from poor communities in the nation are anticipated to get free sanitary pads and menstrual hygiene instruction over the course of the following three years.
The Hands of Gold Foundation (HOGF), an Accra-based non-governmental organisation (NGO), has launched a scheme called "Get a Pad, Get Educated, Get a Life (3G)" that aims to keep girls in school.
The project will provide free books and stationery as well as a monthly supply of sanitary pads, menstrual hygiene education and its associated management practises, regular free health screenings, and schoolgirls from underprivileged and deprived communities across all 16 regions of the country.
HOGF Communications Manager Edwina Amoyaw announced the project's launch and said that despite substantial education, action, and advocacy in this area, over 53% of teenage girls in some underprivileged and marginalised regions still struggled to purchase sanitary pads.
That, according to her, was partly attributable to the high price of sanitary pads in the nation, which had been brought on by the high taxes on the manufacture and importation of sanitary goods, particularly sanitary pads.
Government action is needed to reduce the high tariffs on sanitary pads, according to Ms. Amoyaw, in order to make sanitary pads available to everyone, particularly girls in impoverished communities.
I thus want our government to significantly decrease or eliminate the 12.5% VAT and 20% luxury tax on sanitary goods," the woman added.
She also exhorted everyone to have regular conversations on menstrual hygiene education at home and in the classroom, especially parents and teachers.
policies
In order to lessen the financial burden faced by menstruating women, she also urged the government and its affiliate organisations to develop well-structured programmes and policies that would assist corporate institutions and private individuals with creative ways to produce affordable, biodegradable, and reusable sanitary products.
Akua Adufa Mintah, the National Youth Authority's media relations officer, underlined the necessity of making sanitary goods not just available but also reasonably priced.
She said that this would preserve the education of women and young girls living in rural areas, in particular.
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