By Joan Odafe
Menstrual periods are a natural part of life for women and girls in their puberty stages.
Periods occur when the uterus sheds its lining resulting in bleeding from the vagina.
According to the UN Women, every month, no fewer than two billion people worldwide menstruate.
Sadly, millions of females cannot either afford menstrual products or access safe water and sanitation to manage their menstrual health and hygiene whenever they experience this monthly natural phenomenon.
This obviously interrupts their lives, rights, and freedoms.
Health experts submit that understanding menstrual health, being an essential aspect of overall well-being, will help women and the girl child to manage menstrual symptoms, to lead healthier, and happier lives.
Mrs Fiyinfolu Francisco, health educator for Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area of Lagos State, says menstrual hygiene is the practice of keeping clean and healthy during menstruation.
According to Francisco, non-adherence to a proper menstrual hygiene can cause infections, offensive odour leading to stigmatisation and low self-esteem.
“Maintaining proper menstrual hygiene can be challenging due to various reasons.
“Some of the common challenges faced are: socio-cultural, economic, physical, environmental and health reasons.
“For many women and girls in Nigeria, affordability and limited access to resources are the major challenges faced,” she said.
According to her, menstrual hygiene products can be expensive, which makes it inaccessible to many individuals.
Francisco says that due to the rising cost of sanitary pads, some women have replaced it with diapers and unscented tissue paper.
While some look for clean clothes, cut it in sizes and place in their underwear to absorb the blood flow,” she said.
She also notes that inadequate access to clean water, sanitation facilities and waste management can pose a challenge for proper menstrual hygiene.
Yet, experts say it is important to use products including soap, water, sanitary pads, tampons among others, designed specifically for the menstrual cycle in order to maintain proper hygiene.
Francisco advises women and girls to stay clean by bathing regularly with soap and water, and to avoid harsh chemicals and douching, during their menstrual periods.
She adds that “to maintain proper period hygiene, it is necessary to change pads between four to six hours, even if the flow is low.”
For Doris Suleiman, Public Relations and Communications Manager at Wemy Industries Limited, to maintain proper hygiene during the menstrual period, using sanitary pads, is the healthiest and most dignifying solution.
Suleiman advises that in choosing a sanitary pad, care should be taken to choose the ones with safety certification such as the NAFDAC number.
“Check for the expiration date. Check to make sure that the pad is not leaked. Make sure that it is your proper size and that it is designed for you,” she says.
HealthShots, a health and wellness blog, says it is normal for women to experience various issues during periods, including mood swings, cramps, weakness and tiredness.
But it warns that those with poor menstrual hygiene can experience much more.
“During the monthly cycle, bacteria is released from the body through the vagina making it a necessity to change pads every four hours.”
This, it says, will prevent the risk of bacterial infections, period rash and other harmful problems related to the vagina and menstrual health.
It highlights some of the risks inherent from not changing pads for a long time to include having leukorrhea, a condition when excessive amounts of white discharge starts to come from the genital area, which may make the woman feel weak or exhausted.
“There is also the risk of urinary tract infections (UTI), which can include the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra, with symptoms such as burning sensation during urination, pain in the lower abdomen and a foul smell from the vagina.
“You do not have to use one pad for more than four to five hours; change your pad on time whether your flow is less or high.
“Apart from this, when you start feeling wet, immediately go and change the pad,” HealthShots warns.
Rising Cost of Sanitary pads
In all of these, health experts, however, express worry that the percentage possibility of most women and girls overcoming these challenges is very slim.
Their fears stem from the prohibitive cost of available numerous brands of sanitary pads in the market, averaging between N1,000 and N5,000.
Many women and girls struggle monthly to maintain proper hygiene.
As at the time of this report, Always brand sold for N1,500; SoftCare – N2,000; Molped brand- N1,000; LadyCare – N1,000; DryLove -N1,000 for packs of seven to ten pads while Tampax sold at N5,700 and Virony at 2,800.
Pads with anion and magnetic energy such as Longrich sold for N5,000 and above.
Another point to note is that going by the recommendation of experts to change pad within six hours, most women and girls would need a minimum of two packs monthly.
Suleiman says the increase in the price of sanitary pads stems majorly from the increase in the cost of production.
Some of the factors, included the increase in the cost of importing raw materials, foreign exchange rates, taxes and the cost of transportation.
*Alternatives to sanitary pads*
With the rising cost of living in the country, and the frequent hike in the price of sanitary pads, many women and girls say maintaining proper hygiene during their monthly period has become a huge burden.
Many are seeking alternatives to sanitary pads, which have led some to using tissue paper, cotton wool, fabrics and reusable cloth pads.
Suleiman says ensuring that the menstrual hygiene process is done with dignity, including proper cleanliness and disposable, were factors in managing periods.
“There’s no other healthy alternative that you can use in place of a pad.
“But if using the other methods that are not healthy is the only option you have, make sure that you maintain proper cleanliness, make sure that you’re clean, clean up every time, shower at least twice a day,” she advises.
On the use of diapers as alternative, she said “diapers are designed for a different purpose.
“Sanitary Pads are designed for menstruation.
“Diapers can only be used in case of an emergency; maybe you don’t have a sanitary pad around.
“Use it for that moment but make sure that you drop it as soon as you can.
“For people who use it, it can cause rashes, infections like UTI, bacterial vaginosis and the rest,” she warned.
Challenges
Susan Ebi, a student, says she had once tried using cotton wool but had to stop because of fear of infection.
“It absorbed my flow and didn’t leak but one time I started perceiving odour from my vagina.
“I observed that it was because everything didn’t come out while removing it, so, I stopped.
“I learnt that the reusable washable pads are good. Apart from ordering it online, I don’t know where to find It.
“Even online, it’s not cheap, though in the long run it may be more economical,” she said.
Mrs Eloho, businesswoman, says though two of her sisters use the reusable washable pads and have been able to maintain proper hygiene by washing and sunning the pads.
“But i still prefer the disposable pads because of convenience,” she said.
Monsurat Ajayi, mother of two with heavy flow, says she is yet to try any alternative to disposable sanitary pads because of fear of infection.
Recommendations
Suleiman says collaboration among government agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and manufacturers can help lessen the burden for women and girls.
According to her, her organisation, which manufactures the Dr Brown’s Baby and Adult diapers, Mama’s Sept Pad and Nightingale Under Pad, collaborates with NGOs to donate diapers and sanitary products to hospitals and indigent communities across the nation.
She urges the Federal Government to help reduce the cost of production for manufacturers and lessen the burden on consumers, by cutting down on taxes.
While saying it is always better to be on the side of caution, health experts like Suleiman say there is no alternative to sanitary pads if women and girls desire to maintain high menstrual hygiene with dignity.
As such, sanitary pads should be affordable and accessible, while WASH facilities to enable menstrual hygiene should also be available.
(NANFeatures)
