Activists in Rwanda have urged the country’s government to provide subsidised or free sanitary products to the neediest citizens.
Founder of #FreeThePeriod Initiative, Isabella Akaliza, says, for example, government can heavily subsidise the production of period products, or allocating some of the national budget towards their provision.
‘This is a serious issue that we need to see more policymakers addressing’, she told The News Times.
‘Removing VAT is a step in the right direction but there is more to be done. Period poverty does not just affect girls in schools.
‘There are women in prisons, hospitals, workplaces, their own homes who are suffering from the indignity of period poverty. NGO’s and grassroots organisations cannot cater to all of them, the need is too large. We need real government intervention’.
Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA) News Anchor, Fiona Mbabazi, said that with the 18 percent VAT waiver, still, many girls would not afford sanitary products.
‘In all essence, why do they give free condoms? For me, condoms could probably not be a necessity; but going through the menstrual period is something that every woman or girl experiences without choice’, Mbabazi said.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM), in a statement, said that the high prices of sanitary pads were mainly caused by the supply shortage.
‘Currently, there are discussions between traders, industrialists, and MINICOM to see how they can reduce the prices where they seem high; and how the factories can increase the production of these products’, the statement read.
Source: The New Times
Photo source: Business Call to Action
