By Nneka Nwogwugwu
As Nigeria marks menstrual hygiene day 2022, the Bread of Life Development Foundation has advocated for the domestication of menstrual hygiene rights and the development of a national menstrual hygiene policy in Nigeria to strengthen these rights.
The Non-Governmental Organisational made the call in a statement signed by its Programme Officer, Racheal Ogundipe, and which was released on Saturday.
The NGO said menstruation is an essential and inevitable activity for Nigeria’s 42million women and girls of reproductive age.
This, she said, necessitated a human rights approach to menstrual hygiene management and development of a policy framework at national and state levels to safeguard this right.
The statement said menstrual Hygiene products and mode of disposal should be easily assessable to every girl, child, and woman.
“The need, therefore, arises to develop policy and legal frameworks that guarantee the right of Nigerian women to menstrual hygiene, ensuring access to essential equipment, material, and facilities that help protect their dignity and prevent health risks’, said Bread of Life Foundation.
Racheal Ogundipe noted that menstrual hygiene management requires access to materials and facilities such as water, sanitary pads, bins, and gender-sensitive toilets in workplaces, offices, schools, public places, markets, religious centres, and other public places.
She said the right to menstrual hygiene will guarantee access to affordable menstrual hygiene products to absorb or collect the flow of blood during menstruation and ensure the provision of menstrual hygiene sensitive toilets that guarantee privacy for women and girls to change menstrual materials.
The Bread of Life explained that Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.2 hopes to ensure that by 2030, there is access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all, paying particular attention to the needs of women and girls.
“To achieve this, public and private sector players should initiate actions towards the progressive realisation of menstrual hygiene as a human right”, she said.
The NGO also argued that every Nigerian woman of reproductive age has a right to affordable Menstrual Hygiene products as an essential human need, adding that Menstrual products are however presently unaffordable to many Nigerians, mainly the girl child and other low-income women in
vulnerable communities.
Racheal Ogundipe called on the Federal Government to reduce import duties and taxes on menstrual products and make it Value Added Tax (VAT) free to ensure the affordability of menstrual products.
She said this is in line with best practices, adding that countries such as Scotland, New Zealand, France, Kenya, and Botswana, have introduced different methods to manage menstrual hygiene, such as providing free sanitary pads to all school-aged girls.
She said Kenya also eliminated the “pink tax”, which is the charge on menstrual products, as she urged educational institutions to make menstrual hygiene products accessible at a free or subsidised rate to every girl child of reproductive age.
The NGO also called on philanthropic/charity organisations, religious groups, non-governmental organisations, and politicians to sponsor the distribution of subsidised menstrual pads for women below the poverty line and girls in low-income communities.
Bread of Life foundation noted that most public offices and business premises are not menstruation friendly, and most workplace administrative manuals and human resources policies are presently silent on menstrual hygiene.
It called on corporate organisations to ensure that the menstrual needs of their staff are addressed in human resources manuals and policies, and that they should pay attention to the menstrual needs of women in their organisation.
The NGO advocated specifically that women of reproductive age should be entitled to menstrual hygiene leave, and it should be clearly stated in the workplace policies.
“Provisions should be made for menstrual hygiene bins in institutions and public toilets in Nigeria for the safe disposal of menstrual wastes”, it said, adding that public authorities should also enforce the quality standard of menstrual hygiene products like menstrual pads, menstrual cups, and tampons, as several substandard menstrual products in the Nigerian market compromise menstrual hygiene health.
The Bread of Life urged professional, trade and labour unions to take the issue of menstrual hygiene as an advocacy action.
“Generally, households and public water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities should allow women and girls to safely, comfortably, and privately manage menstruation – and must be accessible to girls and women with disabilities”, it said.
Bread of Life also advocated for developing a national policy on Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in Nigeria to promote access to all needed materials and facilities as well as promote menstrual hygiene.
While admitting that existing sectoral policies make references to MHM, Bread of Life expressed the belief that MHM issues deserve a stand-alone policy.
“The first step towards the realisation of the human right to menstrual hygiene in Nigeria is the development of a menstrual hygiene policy in Nigeria”, and added that there is presently no approved policy at the national and state levels on MHM in Nigeria.
The Bread of Life called on the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development and the Nigerian Technical Working Group on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management (MHHM) to fast track the development of policy on menstrual hygiene management in Nigeria.
While arguing that menstrual hygiene is a cross-cutting issue, Bread of Life urged relevant ministries to review their sector policies to address MHM.