Mozambique, Angola help girls manage menstrual health and hygiene in crisis and beyond – UNFPA
Posted by Bukola Daike on June 9, 2021 at 10:58 am
MAPUTO, Mozambique/LUANDA, Angola – It can be challenging enough when a girl gets her first period – she may not even know what is happening to her body. Now put her in a situation in which she’s been displaced or vulnerable because of a natural disaster, conflict or pandemic and has no access to supplies or proper sanitation.
In the wake of back-to-back disasters – Cyclones Idai and Kenneth in 2019 and COVID-19 last year – adolescent girls in Mozambique have faced hampered supply chains and disrupted school-based reproductive health education, and they have seen sanitation resources diverted to fighting the pandemic.
Girls who have been displaced have to go further to find food, water and firewood in unfamiliar places, and many lack shelter, health care and privacy. If they know menstrual hygiene products exist, limited availability and cost keep them out of reach, and girls resort to cloths that are uncomfortable, irritate skin and take a long time to dry after washing.
In Sofala Province, thousands of girls remain in resettlement areas more than two years after the cyclones. But as part of this transition, UNFPA is supporting the government and partners to ensure their menstrual needs are considered a key part of the recovery.
Normalizing the natural
Working with BeGirl, under the leadership of the Government of Mozambique and with funding support from the Government of Norway, and technical support from the Association for the Promotion and Development of Women and Plan International, UNFPA piloted a project that provided reusable menstrual underwear with washable absorbent insert to dozens of girls, and reached both boys and girls with information about the female reproductive system, menstruation, reproduction and family planning, helping to destigmatize menstruation within the community. The adolescents also received a period-tracking “clock”.
