At least 2,000 girls from Ndorwa West constituency in Kabale district have received free reusable sanitary pads in a move to lure them to stay in school.
The sanitary pads distribution campaign that was started on Tuesday this week spearheaded by Together Alive Health Initiative (TAHI) targets rural vulnerable girls who are on the verge of leaving school due to stigma suffered as a result of little or no care during their menstrual cycles.
Mpirirwe Simpson, the Kigezi regional coordinator of TAHI, noted that girls pass through difficult times of menstruation periods, warning that some have dropped out of school due to stigma and poverty.
He made these comments in Katuna, Butuuza, Nyinarushengye and Mukarangye primary schools all in Ndorwa west, Kabale while distributing the pads on Thursday afternoon.
Obadia Abaruhanga, the deputy headmaster of Nyinarushengye Primary School said the school has been spending at least Shs300,000 per term to buy the sanitary pads for the girls in menstrual cycle.
Kate Kyarikoora, the senior woman teacher at Katuna Primary school said girls had been using tradition pads made from clothes that the school had trained them to improvise with in times of need. She thanked the initiative, saying reusable sanitary pads were very resource saving.
During the 2016 election campaign, President Museveni pledged to buy sanitary towels for girls in need.
The government estimated that 30 per cent of Ugandan girls from poor families miss school because of lack of sanitary pads.
But shortly after that election pledge, Ms Janet Museveni, the Minister for Education and Sports, said there were insufficient funds to buy the pads for the girls.
This then led to a campaign by former Makerere University researcher, Ms Stella Nyanzi, on ensuring that there is provision of pads in schools.
Recently, UN Population Fund distributed about 50,000 disposable pads in 14 districts of Uganda.
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