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Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter
Following concerns from young girls and women over the soaring costs of sanitary wear which they aired during the “First Lady and the girl-child” interface programmes, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, through her Angel Of Hope Foundation, has stepped in to alleviate the challenge by donating reusable menstrual kits to disadvantaged young girls and women which can be used up to three years.

The First Lady engaged partners, among them Days for Girls — an organisation head-quartered in United States of America — to address the plight of the girl-child.
Programmes will also be rolled out to teach women how to make the reusable pads.

To commemorate Menstrual Hygiene Day, which is held on May 28 every year, the First Lady, who is the ambassador for health and child care, yesterday donated the reusable menstrual kits to several girls from six schools in Seke, bringing smiles to their faces.

The donations will cascade to all the country’s provinces.
In a speech read on her behalf at Murape Primary School by Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Obadiah Moyo, the First Lady said her foundation’s common goal was to promote good menstrual hygiene management for all women and girls.

“Angel of Hope is engaging partners who can help to come up with solutions for sanitary wear. We have since engaged Days for Girls to see how we can provide access to affordable, reusable sanitary wear for women and girls,” she said.

“We are also focusing on ensuring girls and women have menstrual health education to understand menstruation and options for sanitary wear because correct knowledge will help eradicate harmful menstrual practices.

“Also there are programmes that are geared towards women and girls making and selling sanitary wear on a larger scale. Together we can break the silence surrounding menstrual health issues and raise awareness as well as change the negative social norms around menstrual health management and engage decision makers to increase the priority and catalyse action for menstrual health management at global, national and local levels.”