U/E/R: Adolescent girls want government to scrap taxes on sanitary pads

Senior High School girls in the Upper East Region have called for the scrapping of taxes on menstrual pads to make them affordable and accessible to underprivileged girls and young women.

According to a UNESCO report, 1 in 10 girls in sub-Saharan Africa misses classes during their menstrual period and in Ghana, 9 in 10 girls miss school during their menstrual period.

The same report posits that between 44 and 45 per cent of school girls use rags during their period due to lack of funds to purchase disposable sanitary pads. Period poverty is not just a potential health risk, it can also affect girls' education, well-being, and sometimes their entire lives.

In commemoration of this year’s Menstrual Hygiene Day, ActionAid Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organization, organized a campaign on menstrual hygiene and health to raise public awareness of the importance of menstrual hygiene and call for the removal of taxes on sanitary products to make them affordable to poor people.

The campaign was led by members of Young Female Platforms (YFP), an SHS girls clubs established and supported by ActionAid Ghana in nine schools in the Upper East region.

About 250 girls poured on the streets of Zebilla in the Bawku West district wielding placards with the inscription; 'Menstruation Matters for Gender equality,' 'Make sanitary pads tax-free to make them affordable to the poor,' 'Scrap the period tax,' 'End Period poverty,' 'Don’t Tax my period,' 'No shame in menstruation,' 'Proud to bleed,' 'Menstrual Hygiene' and 'Health is a right,' 'Make it accessible to all,' etc.

According to the students, menstrual periods are natural processes and should not be regarded as dirty as many people perceive. To be able to practice good menstrual hygiene, they indicated that sanitary pad is a basic necessity and not a luxury. They lamented that huge taxes on sanitary pads have made some girls unable to have access to this basic necessity and resort to the use of rags and tissue papers which does not promote good menstrual hygiene.

Avuga Vida, a Bolgatanga SHS student called on the government to scrap the taxes imposed on sanitary pads to enable young girls have easy access to the pads. She said sanitary pads are very expensive and parents cannot afford to buy enough pads for their adolescent girls, and this can lead the girls to engage in sexual relationships with boys or men who eventually get them pregnant.

After the street march, there was a Girls Conference organized and sponsored by ActionAid Ghana under the theme, "Breaking Barriers: Girls can be!" where YFP members from 9 Senior High Schools and two communities in the interacted with well experienced role models and motivational speakers.

In his address, the ActionAid programme officer for the Upper East regional programme, Mr. Akuka Yakubu mentioned that the repercussions of period poverty are far-reaching.

"For many women and girls, a lack of menstrual care means missing days of school or work, putting their education or career at risk," he stated.

He added that menstruation and teenage pregnancies are affecting girls negatively and urged the girls to avoid bad adolescent sexual behaviours which could lead affect their future.

The guest speaker of the conference and acting CEO for Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana, Ms. Priscilla Nyaaba took the girls through the causes, effects and prevention of teenage pregnancies and early marriage. She also joined in the calls for the removal of taxes imposed on sanitary pads for the less privileged to have access.

The Headmaster of Zebilla Senior High Technical School, Mr. Richard A. Ayabilla who doubles as the Chairman of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools in Upper East Region expressed his worry about student disturbances and destruction of school properties in the region in recent times.

He advises students to channel their grievances to the appropriate authorities for redress rather than vandalising school properties. According to him, this term has recorded more than eight student riots in senior high schools across the region.