Even As We Fight COVID-19, We Should Not Forget Menstrual Health

The fight against the deadly Covid-19 seems to have clouded everything. Floods are killing people and destroying property but all we hear about is Covid-19. Are we focusing on the pandemic so much that we are forgetting about other important health issues?

According to the Ministry of Health, there has been a significant drop in patients visiting hospitals for fear of being tested and found with the virus. Truth is Kenyans are scared and we might be losing more Kenyans to other illnesses than Covid-19.

The point is, we have focused on fighting Covid-19 so much that we are neglecting other health-related issues that will, after the pandemic is gone, present another bomb that will hit hard both the society and the economy.

Before the advent of Covid-19, there were so many initiatives that advocated for the menstrual hygiene of our girls. When Covid-19 came knocking, everything was forgotten and no one seems to be talking about it.

Truth is Covid-19 has deeply affected access to information concerning menstrual health, menstrual products, and the onset of menstrual pain as well as bleeding during this period.

The sexual and reproductive health of our girls has been greatly compromised by the pandemic and unless we address it now, it will be a problem that will cost us soon.

Initiatives and efforts of Journalist and Author Janet Mbugua, through My First Time stories, should not only be commended but supported by all of us.

Menstrual health is still a subject that is discussed in low tones in most homesteads in Kenya. The majority of our girls are left to learn and make decisions on their own.

According to Janet Mbugua, if the country cannot discuss and handle the challenge of menstrual health and hygiene during this Covid-19 pandemic, the problem will become too big to deal with when all these are over.

There is an urgent need to address the shortage of menstrual products during this time that the country is fighting the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the imposition of a curfew that has curtailed the movement of people and some products.

We can help our girls at this time by talking to them about their sexual and reproductive health, as well as donating to them the much-needed menstrual products.

Millions of girls in Kenya cannot afford a sanitary pad. This has led to increased teen pregnancy among girls from poor families who offer themselves for sex to earn some money for the pads.

It is time for us to think critically about this issue or we shall have another pandemic at our feet.