Skip to contentCreating Partnerships in support of Menstrual Hygiene Management in Uganda.
January 2018 by Charles W.B. Matsiko
TAGS: Capacity Building, Policy, Civil Society, Menstrual Hygiene Management, Partnerships, Uganda
Many countries like Uganda, are faced with a challenge of Menstrual Hygiene Management. Menstrual hygiene is an issue that every girl and woman has to deal with once she enters adolescence around the age of 12 and until she reaches menopause between 40 and 50 years. Overall a woman spends approximately 3,000 days menstruating which is equivalent to almost six years of her life. Menstruation is a monthly occurrence that requires access to appropriate materials and facilities, without which, females suffer from poor menstrual hygiene which can restrict their movement, ability to participate freely and self-confidence. Good menstrual hygiene is therefore crucial for the health, education, personal development and dignity of girls and women.
The Pincer Group International has been collaborating with Plan International-Uganda, Government of Uganda through Ministry of Education and Sports and a wide range of partners to develop a training manual for teachers and other stakeholders in 2017.
In Uganda menstrual hygiene management still poses a challenge for girls and women because they lack hygienic sanitary pads, coupled with poor sanitary facilities at school, limited information, negative attitudes and practices. According to International Rescue Committee (2006), girls mentioned a strong need to be taught correct facts about menstruation together with boys and that more facilities were needed for girls. Offering both girls and boys the right information on menstrual hygiene management does not only help girls manage menstrual periods with dignity and complete school, but also empowers boys to appreciate that menstruation is normal and thus creates an enabling environment for girls at school.
There are many factors that negatively impact on the performance of girls at school. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report 2013 shows that Uganda has the highest school drop-out rate for females in East Africa. According to the Uganda Education Management Information System (EMIS) report of 2015, the survival rates to grade 5 declined by 0.7 percentage point from 60.6 % (59.5% boys; 61.7% girls) in 2014/15 to 59.9% (58.6% boys; 61.1% girls) in 2015/16.The survival rates to grade 7 also declined by 3 percentage points from 33.1% (Boys 33.2%; Girls 32.9%), in 2014/15 to 30.1% (Boys 30.1%; Girls 30.0%) in 2015/16. The P7 completion rate declined by 10.4 percentage points from 72% (72% boys; 72% girls) in 2014/15 to 61.6% (59.8% boys; 63.3% girls) in 2015/16. This is attributed to factors that include among others; increase in child marriages, increased repetition rates and high teenage pregnancies. The proportion of pupils repeating grades remained constant at 7.2%. There was a decline in attendance in UPE schools by 8% from 95% in FY 2014/15 to 87% in FY 2015/16.
Limited access to proper sanitary care has been cited as one the major factors affecting girls’ participation and performance in school. A 2014 research from SNV, Mapping the Menstrual Hygiene Market in Uganda, in the 2012 census, shows that the population of women in Uganda was 18,124,684, 24.5% of whom were adolescents, between 10-19 years (4,440,547). At least 84% of them are rural and assumed to be unable to (sufficiently) access and/or afford sanitary pads. That is an estimate of 3.75 million girls living without proper sanitary care. And this is mainly as a result of limited access to proper menstrual products. Many of them rely on crude methods like old clothing, pieces of foam mattress, toilet paper, leaves, and banana fibres to manage their menstruation (Wandawa 2016).
The crude methods are unhygienic, ineffective, and uncomfortable and have raised unprecedented public health and policy concerns. Faced with frequent, embarrassing situations and a susceptibility to recurrent infections, the impact is that millions of girls and women experience their monthly period as something that prevents them from engaging in daily life activities – whether this is going to school or work, or carrying out their normal domestic responsibilities.
The Pincer Group International with its subsidiary Pincer Training and Research Institute (PTRI) has successfully embarked on a journey for restoration of the girls’ dignity through the development of a menstrual hygiene training manual for teachers and other stakeholders. The manual is meant to empower teachers, parents and management to deliver on their responsibilities in supporting both boys’ and girls’ education by ensuring availability of gender responsive sanitation and hygiene facilities. The manual will enhance knowledge and skills of teachers and other stakeholders to ably support adolescent girls to manage menstruation.
