The government has been asked to consider establishing sanitary towel dispensers in all key public institutions.
Valentine Simei, the Chief Executive officer of Fast Track Mentors says with the dispensers in place, women and girls from vulnerable families will be able to access the sanitary towels for free.
Simei argues that sanitary towels remain a key part of women, hence the need for the government to avail them free of charge.
“The government should provide sanitary towels for free. How many hospitals have sanitary towels’ dispensers? What happens to a woman who is on his period and finds herself in a health facility? It should be the same case for courts, police stations and other public places,” said the Fast Track Mentors.
“There are optional things that the government avails to Kenyans for free, why not sanitary towels that are mandatory?” she added.
Further, the girls’ rights activist has asked the Ministry of Education to ensure it supplies sanitary towels sufficient to learners for the whole year.
Sanitary towels for a whole year
She said the current model where the government provides the towels only for 9 months should be revised.
“You give girls sanitary towels for 9 months yet menstruation is for a whole year. We need to get the towels for the whole year because we have girls whose families are even struggling to put food on the table and such things are merely a luxury,” said Simei.
Fast Track Mentors is a registered Community Based Organization (CBO) that has for the last 10 years been involved in mentorship programs for girls.
The CBO has also been providing the girls with free sanitary towels.
Girls in over 100 schools spread across 16 counties have benefited from the program which has seen at least 6,000 girls benefit from it.
Simei says through engagement with the girls, they have realized that most of them drop out of school due to early pregnancies and shame for lack of sanitary towels.
“Most girls fall into the trap of bodaboda operators who trick them that they would provide the sanitary towels only to end up pregnant. Others once they are laughed at because the period comes while in school and they don’t have the towels, because of shame they drop out,” explained the Fast Track Mentors CEO.
But the CBO has initiated a program that incorporates sensitizing boys on the menstrual period in girls.
This is even as she encouraged parents to educate their girls and boys on changes they will come across as they grow.
