By Daniel Ezeigwe
Anambra Governor’s wife, Dr. Nonye Soludo has called for intensified campaign to reach out to more women and girls who are currently facing menstrual hygiene challenges.
The governor’s wife who disclosed this in her message to mark this year’s World Menstrual Hygiene Day, noted that with the increasing number of women, particularly girls who need urgent solutions to menstrual needs, it has become imperative for stakeholders to re-strategize their approach to the campaign.
Official data say that an estimated 37 million women and girls in Nigeria are unable to afford sanitary pads and only rely on unhygienic alternatives.
The data amplify an official finding from the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which reveal that major gaps in water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure create barriers for women and girls to manage menstruation safely and with dignity.
Other data say that only 2 in 5 schools globally offer menstrual health education, and just 1 in 3 have bins for menstrual waste.
These numbers, according to the governor’s wife, pose a great question to important stakeholders to find more practical means to get to the root of the problem while the statistics are still within the reversal reach.
Dr. Nonye noted that healthy menstrual health remains the right of any girl child, and insisted that menstrual-related absenteeism in schools also calls for more collaborative measures that take the needs of the primary option seriously.
She mentioned her Healthy Living Pad Bank Initiative, which began in 2024 and has now been established in over 300 schools in Anambra State as her own approach to helping school girls whose academic focus could be affected during menstruation and related emergencies.
The governor’s wife also stated that she was intentional about establishing the pad banks in more schools in the state, explaining that with hygiene being a major pillar of her Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo movement, she wants to ensure that menstrual emergencies in schools are met with immediate solutions, while school girls who suddenly get caught up would find confidence in working pad banks.
She further explained that advocacies for menstrual hygiene should go beyond yearly campaigns that immediately die off, stating that the campaign must take up hands-on strategies that accommodate education, awareness and action.
Dr Nonye also stated that every intending action should first understand the existing gaps, prioritize vulnerable domains and remain consistent with strategies and push.
She revealed that her pad bank program is now targeting a complete establishment system that will completely reduce the menstrual hygiene imbalance in Anambra State to zero.
Hygiene is a key pillar of Dr. Soludo’s Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo Initiative, and received massive attention that has driven the overall figures down from what they used to be since the program was introduced a few months ago.
The governor’s wife ended the message by asking every girl child in the designated schools for the pad bank project to always access them with full confidence, as her NGO is always ready to refill any pad bank that runs out of sanitary products.
