High-Level Women Advocate (HILWA), a non-governmental organisation, has called on the Katsina government to establish menstrual pad banks for primary and junior secondary schools (JSS).

Hadiza Aminu, a resource person, made the call on Wednesday at a training organised for principals, head teachers and teachers in the Funtua zone.

The UNICEF, the federal government and the Katsina government, organised the training on menstrual hygiene management in collaboration with the HILWA.

The training was flagged off on Sunday in the Katsina zone with about 100 participants. On Monday, about 50 participants from the Daura zone were trained, making 200 participants across the three senatorial zones in the state.

Ms Aminu explained that the participants were taught how to maintain hygiene in their schools and use different pad products, especially reusable and disposable pads.

She expressed the hope that at the end of the training, they would pass down what they learned to female students and establish pad banks. According to her, the issue of establishing a menstrual pad bank in girls’ schools is important and one of the major aims of the training.

Ms Aminu disclosed that with the pad bank, menstrual pads would be made available to girls in schools and homes for emergency use. She noted that the lack of menstrual pad banks sometimes forced female students to be absent from school while they were menstruating.

The project funded from the GEP-3 funding was sponsored by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and implemented by UNICEF. 

(NAN)