As the world marks the 2025 menstrual hygiene day, Wateraid Nigeria has requested the national recognition of menstrual health as a human right, not a privilege.
The organization urged governments, schools and communities to break the silence around menstruation and challenge harmful taboos to ensure that all girls and women can administer their period with dignity, trust and security, throughout the menstrual health capital.
The director of the country of Wateraid Nigeria, Evelyn Mere, speaking in an event to commemorate this year's menstrual hygiene day, said that every day, millions of people who menstruate face stigma, shame and health risks due to the lack of basic menstrual facilities and knowledge.
He pointed out that, despite the fact that menstrual health is a problem of gender education and equality, millions of women and girls in Nigeria still lack access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene services (Wash), as well as precise information and safe spaces to administer their periods. According to her, this fault helps to keep girls out of school and prevents women from participating fully in daily life.
According to the Routine mapping survey of Wash 2021 Wash (Washnorm), only about 46% of Nigerians have access to basic sanitation services, and only 13% use improved sanitation facilities with adequate hand washing stations. For menstruating girls and women, this gap leads to shame, infections and stigma, often with life consequences.
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She said: “It is unacceptable that menstruation continue to limit the potential of millions of girls and women in Nigeria. No one should miss the school, feel ashamed or insecure simply because they are menstruating. A friendly world is one where dignity, access and rights are protected for all, regardless of age, location or income.
This year's theme, 'Together for a #Periodfiendlyworld', deeply resonates with Wateraid's mission. Periods should never be a barrier to education, sustenance or dignity. However, 500 million people worldwide lack access to adequate menstrual products and facilities. In association with schools, health institutions, communities and government nationwide and subnational, Wateraid Nigeria is implementing health management and menstrual hygiene interventions (MHHM). These include providing washing facilities in schools, establishing hygiene clubs, producing and distributing reusable pads and making community awareness efforts. “
He added: “These initiatives are designed to promote support environments where menstruation is normalized and no one is forced to choose between administering their period and living their life with dignity. This day of menstrual hygiene, Wateraid Nigeria is renewing its call to integrate menstrual health and people with menstrual and subnational lavage, health, gender and educational policies; Rutures of the menstrual washing route and menstrual washing and people with menstrual washing and people with subnational washing and people with washing and active washing.
Wateraid invites the public, policy and partner formulators to join the movement and help create a world where anyone is retained. Together, we can create a Nigeria where menstruation is no longer a barrier to the opportunity, security or dignity. “
Talking to Tribune Online, the executive director of SKLD Integrated Services, Tayo Osiyemi, said the organization, through its Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative (CSR), has been supporting women and girls throughout the country by providing sanitary pads, general hygiene kits and vocational articles to boost them.
“What we have done is to provide educational resources, hygiene materials and a lot of humanitarian aid to NGOs. We also work with several schools. We are here today to commemorate the world's menstrual hygiene day.
We are having conversations about the creation of a friendly world with the period, and for us, what we have constantly done through our CSR initiative are the support girls and women throughout the country, in Lagos, Abuja and El Northest. Our main approach has been to provide sanitary pads and wash kits to girls and women.
We also find ways to provide vocational tools to empower women. Creating a world that covers hygiene, rejects stigma and does not allow this biological reality to be used to exploit or exclude women and girls is fundamental. We firmly believe in contributing to this type of world.
Our opinion on menstrual hygiene day, as suggested by this year's theme 'a friendly world with the period', is that both men and women must embrace menstrual hygiene and support girls and women through this biological singularity.
We believe that it should not be a source of stigma, but something that we all join to support and celebrate. No girl must be excluded from education or economic opportunities due to her period, ”Osiyemi told Tribune Online.
On menstrual hygiene day, observed every year on May 28, it has become a global movement in the last decade. It generates worldwide attention in menstruation through the coverage of the media, events and social media campaigns.
This global impulse promotes critical conversations and exerts pressure on key institutions, governments, UN agencies and corporate organizations to take measures, from the launch of new programs to the adoption of progressive policies.
Nigerian tribe