Women’s Health: WACT, partner train students to produce eco-friendly, reusable sanitary pads

*The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) partners with Dofy Global to empower 150 secondary school students on how to produce eco-friendly reusable sanitary pads to break the stigma surrounding menstruation among women and girls in one of its host communities, in Onne, Rivers State of Nigeria

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

In a move to activate the host community’s awareness and understanding of menstrual hygiene particularly, as it concerns the girl child, and in commemoration of the 2024 World Menstrual Hygiene Day, the West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) has partnered with Dofy Global to empower 150 students of Government Secondary School, Onne, Rivers State.

ConsumerConnect gathered that WACT, operated by APM Terminals, recently organised a training programme in one of its host communities on how to produce eco-friendly reusable sanitary pads to break the stigma surrounding menstruation.

Speaking during the event to mark the World Menstrual Hygiene Day, Justin Okwuofu, Community Relations Manager at WACT, reportedly said the company decided to celebrate the 2024 World Menstrual Hygiene Day as a way of breaking the taboo of public discussion on menstruation in the community.

Okwuofu noted the Menstrual Justice Programme addresses the first three thematics of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) interventions namely Health, Education, Training and Development.

He also stated: “When we started the Menstrual Justice Programme in late 2023, the aim was to train students (female and male) on how to produce re-useable eco-friendly pads.

“Apart from the stigma, shame, exclusion, and taboos associated with menstruators, the conventional disposable pads cost between $1.3 and $ 1.9 per pack, and the average girl cannot afford this.”

Chinelo Obienyem, WACT Senior People Business Partner, also stressed celebrating the World Menstrual Hygiene Day gave the company a veritable platform to make positive impact on the host community’s awareness and understanding of menstrual hygiene particularly, as it concerns the girl child.

Obienyem said: “World Menstrual Hygiene Day is an important awareness day, and WACT is taking action to make a positive impact.

“By teaching the girls how to make eco-friendly sanitary pads and providing materials, we are not only helping them manage their periods with dignity but also empowering them with valuable skills and knowledge.”

Victor Akubor, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Principal Partner at Dofy Global, said the celebration of the World Menstrual Hygiene Day and the training one eco-friendly pad production was as a result of the poor menstrual health and hygiene aggravating social and economic inequalities among some girls and women, which also negatively impacts their education, health, safety, and human development.

Akubor noted that the needs were identified through a participatory appraisal with WACT, report said.

In her remarks at the training programme, Clara Wali, Principal of Government Secondary School, Onne, described the activities carried out by WACT as ‘humanitarian’.

The School Principal also affirmed the empowerment programme has helped the school in training students to produce their own sanitary pads, thereby reducing the number of students who come to her to plead for sanitary pads because they cannot afford them.