Two agencies of the United Nations (UN) have provided menstrual health kits to over 500 adolescent girls with special needs in Ghana.

Development Diaries gathered that specialised training in the field of menstrual and sexual health was also conducted for the girls.

The intervention, funded by the government of Canada, was implemented by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

The UN move is in line with number three of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’, the SDG three reads.

According to the development partners, the intervention aimed to keep the participants in school by providing essential menstruation kits and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) training.

‘To make sure all children have access to [school], [UNICEF Ghana] [and] [UNFPA Ghana] have provided 500+ adolescent girls [with] disabilities access to specialised training and menstrual health kits’, the Canadian Embassy in Ghana tweeted.

Period poverty sometimes means that teenage girls have to miss school; and for people living with disabilities (PWDs), the situation is even more dire.

Borgen Project, in a 2020 period, noted that 95 percent of girls in the Zabzugu and North Dayi districts in Ghana missed school due to menstruation.

A similar study, published in 2021, found that menstruation-related school absenteeism was at 27.5 percent in rural northern Ghana.

Also, IRC WASH noted in a report that majority of girls in Ghana do not have accurate information on menstruation before their first period.

The nonprofit also said nine out of ten girls in Ghana regularly miss school during their periods.

In 2021, the Ghana Education Service (GES) launched a five-year strategic plan to promote effective MHM and greater support for girls to better manage their menses in schools.

Photo source: Canada in Ghana