The Imo state chapter of Nigeria Association of women Journalists, NAWOJ in collaboration with De king charity foundation held a workshop for school girls in commemoration of the world Menstrual Day.
The program was organized to train teenage girls on some tools that will aid them while growing up especially as it affects proper grooming and menstrual hygiene.
Speaking at the event which took place at the Nigeria Union of Journalists NUJ Secretariat, the Imo state NAWOJ Chairman, Dr Mrs Dorothy Nnaji, hinted that menstruation is a very important part of life which leads to the commencement of womanhood without which pregnancy and motherhood would not occur.
She explained that some people believe that menstruation is a taboo and women should be stigmatized if they are observing their monthly cycles, she dismissed the wrong notion but stated that it’s a normal fact of life hence the theme for this year was ” Making Menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030″.
She stressed that proper hygiene should be observed during the menstrual period especially the use of sanitary pads which many growing girls and women are unable to afford and called on well spirited individuals , corporate organizations and NGOs to join in providing menstrual hygiene products for free.
Also speaking at the event Mrs Chinwe Abanobi one of the guest speakers from the state Ministry of Health, maintained that some of the practices to observe during Menstruation include changing of sanitary pads regularly every 6hours or more often for those with heavy flow. She also stated that the use of tissues or cloth is hygienic enough and can be hazardous to the health and advised women to wash their vagina with clean water, dispose their used pads properly, take their bath regularly amongst others.
Mrs Abanobi also stressed that lack of menstrual hygiene can affect the reproductive life of women as a result of infections and rashes leading to infertility.
Mrs Blessing Duru from Alliance for Africa who spoke on sexual and gender based violence told the girls to imbibe some life skills such as having a high self esteem and building their confidence in other to speak up in case of abuse, set boundaries in their relationship with the opposite sex and properly chose their careers based on their personality and flare for such and not allowing any form of imposition or influence.
She further encouraged the girls to adopt some skills such as effective communication, negotiating skills, assertiveness, been friendly and show empathy in their journey to womanhood.
Some of the students who spoke to News Echo Anya Nene and Osondu Blossom from Princeton international college thanked the Organizers for a wonderful outing and expressed delight for the knowledge impacted to them and promised to adopt them in order to lead a quality life and prayed God to continue to sustain their efforts.
Highlight of the event was the distribution of menstrual pads to the participants from Princeton International’ College, Owerri and some members of NAWOJ.
