International Day of the Girl Child: NGO trains girls on menstrual health

To mark the 2017 International Day of the Girl Child celebrated every year on October 11, a non-profit called Project Forward Everyone on Wednesday hosted a workshop on menstrual health hygiene and self-esteem for adolescent girls from public secondary schools in Ibadan, Nigeria.

The International Day of the Girl Child (Day of the Girl) is celebrated annually on October 11 to “highlight issues concerning the gender inequality facing young girls” and this year’s theme is “The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030.”

Speaking on the topic “Demystifying Menstrual Health for the Nigerian Girl” at the event, Oyedunni Orulogun, a professor at the Department of Health Promotion and Education at University of Ibadan charged the girls to always believe that they could achieve whatever they dedicate themselves to and that their gender was never a disadvantage.

She stated that girls’ progress was being negatively affected by factors such as child marriage, legal and medical rights as well as misconceptions about menstruation and decried the fact in some rural parts of Nigeria girls were being kept in the bush during their menstrual periods.

“Parents are to seek correct information and begin to talk to their daughters about taking care of their health especially during menstruation and giving them reproductive health education and sexual education at home, menstrual hygiene and seek medical help when needed,” she admonished.

Chinonso Onwunali is the cofounder of Project Forward Everyone who said the aim of the workshop was to empower school girls with the right knowledge about menstruation as well as increase their self-esteem, in accordance with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).