Group empowers girls, others on menstrual health in Bauchi

Not fewer than 589,725 girls and people living with disabilities in communities were empowered on Menstrual Health Management (MHM) in Bauchi, Katagum and Ningi local government areas of Bauchi State.

The two years of the project provided immediate response and built resilience through the empowerment of girls with critical information relevant to MHM by Plan International Nigeria with the support of Kimberly-Clark Foundation (Kotex).

Speaking during the project close-out meeting in Bauchi, the Senior Programme Manager, Plan International in Bauchi, Nasiru Mohammed, said the project was aimed at promoting menstrual health and helping address issues around stigma and challenges that arise as a result of menstruation which is a natural phenomenon in girls.

Mohammed explained that the project adopted adolescent programming, community influencing and community and mass media messaging.

“We reached 33 public schools across the three local government areas of Bauchi, Katagum and Ningi for awareness creation on menstruation,” he said.

Mohammed noted that the project was keen on social inclusion; adding that people living with disabilities were reached across communities of intervention using different platforms.

On his part, the Director of Primary Health Care, Suleiman Madugu, said the project recorded tremendous achievements and succeeded in making adolescent girls have better knowledge of how to manage menstrual health hygiene properly without stress.

“The project of menstrual hygiene management has inculcated the knowledge and best practice of proper menstrual hygiene management of our women of reproductive age, in-school as well as out-of-school adolescent girls in the state,” Madugu said.