Re-usable pads to young girls in Hwedza

By Archford Chirimudombo

MARONDERA- Nhumwa Mothers Support Group in Hwedza district is playing its part in addressing challenges being faced by adolescent girls.

The group, with the support of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, is distributing at least 5 000 re-usable pads to adolescents and other school-going children in surrounding communities.

Provincial gender officer, Blantina Sangare revealed this at a combined family planning and Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) meeting that was recently held at the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) headquarters in Marondera.

She said: “We have partners that have been rolling out programmes in support of the girl child. In Hwedza district, Nhumwa Mothers Support group is manufacturing re-usable sanitary pads which they donate to schools in the community. They make between 2 000-5 000 pads per month.

“The support group, which we have been supporting as a Ministry, also donates joy packs with packages that contain three usable pads, a pant and a towel to the young girls.”

Sangare added that in the first quarter of this year, the Ministry of Women Affairs held 149 child marriage campaigns that reached out to 3 629 girls and 1 957 boys in the province.

A total of 279 women, she said, managed to access ASRH services during the International Women’s Day commemorations that were held in Mudzi.

She also urged other stakeholders to continue strengthening the implementation of ASRH activities at all levels of care.

“There is need to engage community members so that there is acceptance and buy-in of the ASRH programmes by the people. It is also critical to strengthen parent-child communication through community engagement activities and training of health care workers,” Sangare said.