MENSTRUAL AND SANITARY PAD EDUCATION

AYMO aims at increasing school attendance for adolescent school girls, through improved menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in schools and facilitating access to safe, affordable and sustainable sanitary materials through a value chain business model.

In Tanzania most girls in rural primary schools who have reached puberty do not use appropriate sanitary wear during their monthly menstrual. They use local pads, i.e. rags, raw cotton and maize cobs. Due to lack of lack of water in most rural schools, washing of re-usable pads poses a serious challenge. Disposable pads are ready made commercial products. Quality assurance and certification for sanitation, hygiene and health safety of imported pads is provided by the Tanzania Bureau of Standards (TBS).  

The main consumers of these sanitary pads are urban based women; only 2% of school girls across Tanzania (mostly urban based) use the disposable pads. There are rural school girls who have not even seen a sanitary pad. Girl pupils either use inappropriate materials to manage menstrual flow or/and opt to stay at home and not attend school during the 3-4 days of their menses. If they attend school without proper sanitary wear, many girls soil their uniforms and may suffer psychologically due to shame and embarrassment. Poor Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) can contribute to  poor performance and completion rates among girl pupils and exposes them to health risks.

MENSTRUAL AND SANITARY PAD EDUCATION

Most of girls living in rural areas in Tanzania are Unable to afford or access proper menstrual products. many girls and women rely on crude, improvised materials like scraps of old clothing, pieces of foam mattress, toilet paper, leaves, and banana fibres to manage their menstruation – all of which are unhygienic , ineffective, and uncomfortable. This is hardly what we would consider not a healthy “solution” and promotes sickness and disease. AYMO exists because we believe menstruation should not be a barrier for any woman, anywhere. Women are the backbone of our societies and they deserve access to safe, healthy, and dignified solutions to managing their periods natural body functions, and the freedom to rise to their dreams and achieve their true potential. In response for this to achieve these lifegoals for women of all ages, AYMO will provide free education for schoolgirls and out school women that cover educate and train in the following categories: -

1. Reproduction System Functions in Male and Female Bodies Overview

2. Menstrual Cycles: Phases, Functions, and Purposes Discussed in Detail

3. Menstruation Purpose and Function in Reproduction in Detail

4. Menstrual Cycle Tracking for Health and Convenience Individually and for Community

5. Menstrual Kits: Introduction, Instructions for Use, and Best Practices for Sanitation and Hygiene

6. Provision of sanitary pads for 4000 schoolgirls and women’s

7. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): Description; Dangers; Recognizing Signs; Discussion of Effects Now and Later .

Background of the Project.

2.1 The Organization

2.1.1 AFYA YAKO MUHIMU ORGANIZATION

2.1.1.1 First registered with Ministry of community development gender children and elder as a Non-Government organization on 11 August 2020, we operate in villages of Tanzania to give empowering education, training, and support to village communities free of cost to participants.

2.1.1.2 General Goals and Methods

2.1.1.2.1 Educate, train, and support village residents in subject matter vital to their immediate and long-term health including physical, mental, emotional, and social subjects.

2.1.1.2.2 Holistic-Participatory approach to support vulnerable youth, young adults, and parents in decisions to participate in activities of personal and community development.

2.1.1.2.3 Provide feminine hygiene products to young ladies free of charge who participate in our Menstrual Education classes and eventually supply these to all vulnerable ladies and women in the villages on a periodic basis

2.1.1.3 Benefits to Tanzanian Population and Government

2.1.1.3.1 Increasing health in village communities results in reduction of disease, sickness, unplanned pregnancies, and reluctance to proceed to higher education

2.1.1.3.2 Increased population health results in lower government costs supporting health and education of village populations thus benefits all Tanzanian citizens.

4 2.2 In-Progress and Completed Projects

2.2.1 Menstrual Education and Training classes have been provided, free of charge, for 250 girls during October 2020 and January 2021

2.2.1.1 Classes were conducted in Selela, Engaruka, and Engutoto Villages

2.2.1.3 AYMO intends to provide Menstrual Education classes to 15,100 more girls in Monduli, Ngorongoro, Longido, and Simanjiro within a two-year period.

2.2.2 AYMO has achieved these ambitious and growing efforts with support from Maji, Inc., a U.S. Non-profit organization formed exclusively to help vulnerable Tanzanian village populations in this and other vital projects .