As Ghana joins the rest of the world to commemorate this year’s World Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, some Gender Desk officers in the country are mobilizing to petition the government to scrap or significantly reduce taxes on sanitary pads to make them affordable and available for young girls.
According to the advocates, innocent teenage girls are sexually abused on a daily basis in their attempts to get money to buy sanitary pads during their monthly cycles, a situation which the advocates describe as inhumane.
Millicent Ohenewaa, the Gender Desk Officer for New Juaben North Municipality, revealed the plans of the officers at the sidelines of an educational engagement at the Asokore SDA College Demonstration Basic School in Koforidua to mark this year’s World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
“Through our engagement, it came to our attention that these teenage girls are sexually abused by men just for them to get some money to buy sanitary pads. This is very unfortunate and unacceptable. The girls themselves opened up to us, saying that Okada riders take advantage of them mostly because some of their parents cannot afford the monthly pads for them.”
“In this day and age, unspeakable acts like this should not be encouraged. So, some colleagues of mine who also head various gender desk offices are putting together a petition to submit to the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, to scrap the taxes on sanitary pads, making them very affordable for these girls to buy and maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
The Department of Social Welfare and Community Development is calling on corporate Ghana and civil society organizations to adopt schools in their operational areas and periodically supply them with sanitary pads as part of their corporate social responsibility to help mitigate the unfortunate issues of girls engaging in sexual intercourse in exchange for sanitary pads.
Sally Mahama, Head of the New Juaben North Municipal Social Welfare and Community Development, said, “The situation in our communities is very worrying. These girls are using unsanitary items during their monthly cycles, and in the long run, they may end up contracting infections. Therefore, we urge corporate Ghana and other benevolent associations to adopt schools in their vicinities and regularly donate sanitary pads to support these young girls.”