Key points
- Girls in several underserved communities across the Federal Capital Territory have decried significant barriers to accessing menstrual hygiene products.
- High inflation and rising sanitary pad costs are forcing young girls to resort to unhygienic alternatives and miss school during their periods.
- A field assessment across Pigba-Kasa, Waru, Tasha, and Mechanic Village communities revealed that families prioritize food over sanitary materials.
- Vulnerable girls frequently substitute pads with old cloths, rags, tissue paper, or underwear alone due to severe financial constraints.
- Community health practitioners are calling on the government to subsidize menstrual hygiene products and improve institutional sanitation infrastructure.
Main Story
Girls in some underserved communities across the Federal Capital Territory have decried barriers to accessing menstrual hygiene products, forcing many to resort to unsafe alternatives during menstruation.
The girls stated that the situation also caused many of them to miss school during their menstrual periods.
A News Agency of Nigeria correspondent visited communities including Pigba-Kasa, Waru, Tasha in Apo, and the Mechanic Village area, where findings showed that rising poverty, lack of parental support, and increasing sanitary pad costs were worsening menstrual hygiene challenges among vulnerable girls.
The report indicated that the severe economic choices facing low-income households have turned essential reproductive health items into unattainable luxuries.
In communities like Waru and Tasha, young girls detailed how the complete inability to afford basic feeding eliminates any possibility of requesting money for sanitary pads from guardians.
Jacinta Auta, a Community Health Practitioner and founder of SheHealed Health and Advocacy Initiative, confirmed that the high cost of products forces reliance on unhygienic materials, which directly exposes the girls to reproductive infections while simultaneously eroding their educational consistency and emotional well-being.
The Issues
- Deepening poverty levels force low-income guardians to categorize sanitary items as non-essential luxuries beneath immediate dietary requirements.
- Inadequate public school infrastructure, characterized by a lack of clean running water, private toilets, and waste disposal systems, prevents effective menstrual management.
- Persistent cultural taboos surrounding menstruation in rural communities restrict open conversations, leaving young girls without proper behavioral guidance or psychological support.
What’s Being Said
- “When I ask for money for pads, nobody cares about it. One of my friends usually gives me pads for the four days my period lasts,” 17-year-old Favor Hosea stated.
- Hosea added that “when she cannot help me, I stay at home and wear only my underwear, washing often because I have nothing to use.”
- “My family cannot afford food all the time, so I cannot ask for money to buy pads. Some days I miss school because I have nothing to use,” Waliyat Muftau from Waru community pleaded.
- Commenting on structural barriers, health practitioner Jacinta Auta noted that “another challenge is lack of awareness and menstrual education, especially in communities where menstruation is still treated as a taboo subject.”
- Auta emphasized that “some girls are forced to use unsafe alternatives such as old cloths, tissue paper or other unhygienic materials, exposing them to infections and discomfort.”
What’s Next
- Civil society groups and the Pad a Girl outreach initiative will expand free distribution campaigns across the remaining FCT area councils.
- Education boards will face increased demands from advocacy groups to mandate menstrual-friendly sanitation facilities in all rural public schools.
- Public health departments are expected to initiate community-level sensitization programs to dismantle cultural taboos and improve basic menstrual hygiene literacy among parents.
Bottom Line
The intersection of high inflation and poor rural infrastructure has turned menstruation into a barrier to female education in the FCT, requiring targeted government subsidies and structural school sanitation reforms to restore the dignity of vulnerable young girls.
