You see, menstrual health is a serious matter. You will know how serious it is when you see a lady with red blood stain around her buttocks area.
Sometimes this happens as a result of lack of finance to get the sanitary towel ahead of the tie time.
Sadly, the embarrassment that follows the blood wetting of a young girl’s dress is often heart-wrenching.
There is something that the government could do about it and a Nigerian lady is rising up to push the eyes of the people in governance to what they could do for young Nigerian girls.
She believes this will improve their menstrual health.
From Thursday, August 31, young girls and women in Nigeria will be treated with a groundbreaking initiative in the form of a drama series on menstrual health and hygiene.
It will air on Radio Nigeria Bond 92.9 FM.
Free Sanitary Pads
Entitled “My Period, My Pride”, the series was conceptualised by a multiple award-winning broadcaster, journalist, author and foremost social campaigner, Anike-Ade Funke Treasure.
According to the multi-talented promoter, the menstrual health initiative is an advocacy tool to demand free sanitary pads for schoolgirls from the Nigerian governments across all levels.
“The drama series mirrors the challenges of the girl child as she struggles with education in the face of period poverty.
“It is a distillation of conversations and stories about menstruation as experienced by many families.”
“Drama is presently not prominent in the menu of many radio stations in Nigeria, so this is both content and advocacy.
“We are, therefore, particularly grateful to the McArthur Foundation Africa office in Nigeria, under the leadership of Dr. Kole Shettima for supporting our work in the menstrual hygiene sector and giving impetus to our media campaign,” she added.
According to the Senior Programme Officer, McArthur Foundation, Africa, Dr. Amina Salihu, “Period poverty is an equity, human rights and socio-economic problem.
“Society and the state lose because we are not able to understand the socio-economic dimensions”.
She states that “period poverty is a form of gender-based violence and until policy makers recognise it as such, we won’t be able to shift the needle in terms of the right kind of policies and laws”.
As A Palliative
Also, a veteran broadcaster, Mr. Ogie Eboigbe, states that “with radio you can be sure to reach more people, because even the mobile phones all have FM radios while drivers and owners of cars as well as passengers are sure to hear and get the message”.
Funke Treasure particularly asserts that “the drama series is coming at a time Nigerian citizens are grappling with the effects of subsidy removal on family budgets and household needs”.
Renowned agro-economy expert and former Vice Chancellor, Afe Babalola University, Prof. Sidi Osho, who chairs the Board of Illuminate Nigeria Development Network (INDN) under which the SPMC runs states that: “The series would emphasise for the girl child many important issues that they should know about, especially, their physiology as females.
“It will showcase the role that caregivers and mothers play in explaining more about sex education to their wards especially for social growth.
“We hope that the series would stimulate policy makers, private sector, and industries to support this vision, by giving sanitary towels to girls through this campaign”.
The 13-week drama series captures the first menstruation, menstrual cramps, anxiety over continued education due to period poverty, menstrual hygiene talk, the effects of corporate and government intervention on schooling through donation of menstrual items to school girls, the empowerment of women, child abuse and exploitation, the significance of scholarship to indigent students.
The promoter of the forthcoming radio soap, Funke Treasure is a veteran, multi-genre
broadcaster, who retired from Radio Nigeria as an Assistant Director, Programmes.
Designated Radio Stations
Funke Treasure says “in Africa, radio has always had the power to shape audiences and publics.
“It is a powerful tool in engaging multiple publics at the same time.
“We chose the medium of radio because it is a more dialogical and participatory
medium.
“It has huge affective power and the ability to shift subjectivities. It has been proven
repeatedly that difficult and awkward personal and social situations can be covered far more directly and honestly in drama than one can in factual programmes”.
Season One of the drama series, with the sub-title; ‘Efe’, would air on seven radio stations in five states and the FCT. In a press statement by Funke Treasure who is also the Convener of the Sanitary Pad Media Campaign and Executive Producer of the series.
Police Action On Period Poverty
The radio stations on the project, which starts with Bond FM 92.9FM Lagos on Thursday,
August 31 at 12.15pm are Invicta 98.9FM, Kaduna, Darling 107.3FM Owerri, Hit 95.9FM
Calabar, Splash 105.5FM Ibadan, Radio Now 95.3FM Lagos and Human Rights Radio 101.1FM, Abuja.
“We hope that the story of Efe, a schoolgirl, and her friends, which highlights some of the diverse challenges of the girl-child would promote period-centered conversations in public spaces so that Nigeria would inch closer to creating a policy around free pads for schoolgirls.
“The Sanitary Pad Media Campaign has three other expressions designed to advocate for a policy action by federal and state governments in Nigeria on period poverty among under-served populations.
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“These include a pad scholarship for school aged girls which now has more than
2,000 girls in twelve states of Nigeria namely Lagos, Kano, Oyo, Kaduna, Ogun, Kwara and
Benue States. Others include Delta, Ondo, Nasarawa, Bauchi, and Taraba.
“The scholarship provides menstrual pads, underwear, beverage, soap and sanitisers to the girls monthly, as incentives to remain in school.
“Other expressions include an essay competition for girls, an audio and video podcast, and two petitions on change.org.”
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