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It's unthinkable that in the year 2019, female children in many parts of Nigeria cannot have adequate Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM), even more ridiculous that very little attention is being paid towards rectifying this problem, but in the words of David Denotaris;
“dissatisfaction is a great starting point, for it is right there that you have the most power, strength, and energy to push change through.”
In the process of searching for a worthwhile project to take up in the Start.NG program, the members of team #BERLIN were dissatisfied with the status quo as identified by HAMMED Rildwan Bolaji and the idea for Giftapad was conceived.
Our mission
To raise a nationwide awareness, and a global campaign on the right of the girl child to a monthly availability of menstrual hygiene supplies.
Our Vision
The eradication of the stigma that comes with inadequate/unavailable menstrual hygiene in the girl child.
Globally, different cultures and religious groups have varied attitudes towards menstruation. In many parts of the world, menstruation is regarded as dirty, impure and taboo; thus resulting in ‘stigmatization’ for affected women.
What ought to be celebrated as a sign of a properly functioning body is rather stigmatized as a dirty, shameful event that should be hidden.
Sanitary pads are a necessity in the life of a female. When required, its purchase is an automatic decision, just like buying toiletries. However, this decision becomes an issue if you had to choose between a meal for your children and sanitary pads.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report indicates that an estimate of one in ten girls in Sub-Saharan Africa miss school during their menstrual cycle. This gap in Menstrual Hygiene Management has been recognized as one of the impeding factors to social and economic empowerment and growth for female individuals.
Bringing it home, to a country of people who live on less than N720 ($2) daily, the case is a very large number of female children suffering from the lack of proper Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) as the average price for a menstrual pad ranges between N400 and N500.
This puts affordability out of reach for the average Nigerian, and makes MHM impossible for the poor, often resorting to the use of other unhygienic methods such as towels and rags, the risk of Urinary Tract Infections are significantly raised.
This is the status quo and we are determined to be more than just advocates for change by contributing active hands in physical and financial support in bringing about a change. To this effect we have created a website Giftapad.com to effectively reach out to partners and rally support for female children around the country.
We are currently on the reach out to organizations, individuals, government and non-government agencies to mobilize support and partnership to ensure a consistent and continued progress to the actualization of this program objective.
Suitable menstrual health management should include comprehensive access to safe and healthy sanitary pads, adequate information on their use and support with which to manage menstruation in a healthy, safe, and dignified manner.
We do acknowledge the enormous task ahead, and so seek your support to help us do more. Children are the responsibility of the society and no one man, woman or family should raise a child.
“I could write a thousand quotes, and tell you about as many helpless people, but you know in your heart it is right to give” – Oluwatobi Okeyinka
Click the link below, and do a little more than checking us out.
Stop the stigma, help a sister!