Importance of Menstruation and Hygiene Education for Teenage Girls

Some things tend to happen and after that is when we try to figure out the reasons as to why they had to happen. Some of these things leave us with experiences that are not worth smiling about, but since we may not have any option, we tend to accept them just as they come.

Having turned 13 years old, I was in standard eight and my aim was to work as hard as I could so as to excel in my final exams that were to help me secure a chance in my dream high school. We were on the second term and this is the time when we normally sit for our pre-final exams normally referred to as “Mock Exams”.

The exams were to start the next week therefore; I spent most of my time revising thoroughly. The weekend just before the exam week, on a Sunday morning, I woke up to a very painful stomach. Trying to figure out what I might have eaten the previous night that might have caused the stomach ache, I could not figure out anything.

This pain felt abnormal as it was very sharp and on my lower abdomen. I woke up to go and get some painkillers from my mother. Another shocking thing that left me staring on my bedding was the colour that my bed sheets had turned into. There were blood stains, where could this have come from? Did I injure myself while sleeping to the extent of shedding blood?  Looking at my sleeping gown, it was also soaked in blood.

I did not know what to do next because I had no idea of what was happening to me. The pain in my stomach was no more, and the only thing that I thought of doing next was to clean up myself before other family members woke up. I wanted to inform my mother of the occurrences but again, how could I even start telling her such things? The only way was to figure out how to help myself.

After cleaning up, I checked for some pieces of clothes that were torn, and that is what I used to prevent my clothes from being stained. I had no peace of mind at all during the three days that I was sitting for my exams and I recall failing terribly.

This was my experience on the first time that I had my menstruation. There are many more girls who have worst experiences than me. All these are caused by lack of knowledge on menstruation.

Feminine hygiene education is an issue of attendance, quality, and safety. Poor facilities including lack of water, soap, privacy and insufficient toilets, reduce girls’ enjoyment of school, attendance and levels of attainment, according to IRC 2006, World Bank 2005, UNICEF 2004.

Studies suggest that around 66 per cent of girls know nothing about menstruation until confronted with their first menstruation, making it a negative and sometimes even traumatic experience. Therefore, it is important that the subject is taught in school with sensitivity and accuracy, creating a relationship of trust between the students and teachers.

Read: More Girls to Benefit from Procter & Gamble Always Campaign

The School curricula typically does not cover the topic of menstruation and puberty in a girl-friendly manner, and so do not help girls to understand the changes in their maturing bodies.

Girls should have access to reproductive health education within formal education programs. The focus should not only be on the biological and technical aspects of reproduction, but also on the social and emotional issues which adolescents in particular need to explore, such as feminine and menstrual hygiene, body awareness, the maturation process and changes during puberty.

One study in Nigeria found that institutionalizing sexuality education in schools; developing and disseminating sensitive adolescent reproductive health massages targeted at both parents and their adolescent children; and improving access of the adolescents to youth friendly services are veritable means of meeting the adolescent reproductive health needs.

A combination of education, communication and construction is necessary in ensuring that not only do girls have well-designed facilities but that they know how to use them correctly and are taught appropriately. Raising awareness and educating girls and boys around menstruation is a complex task that requires a multi-sector, joined up approach.

Procter & Gamble have taken the initiative of ensuring that girls have access to information on maturity and that they have the material needed during menstruation. This is why as they celebrate their 10 years’ anniversary, they are offering free Always pads to primary school girls from poor backgrounds, who cannot be I a position to afford the sanitary towel. They are also equipping the girls with knowledge on what menstruation is, and how to go about the situation.

They achieve this through improving the quality of education for learners, with a special focus on girls in upper primary school, through improved menstruation education.