Coping with menstrual flow has been a great problem for school going girls not only in Kenya but Africa as a whole. It is one of the issues that derails the education of the girl child and leads to school dropout, early pregnancy and early motherhood among girls from challenged family backgrounds. In Mbakalo Ward, three out of ten girls stay away from school during menses for lack of sanitary wear and the stigma that accompanies menstrual flow.
Verah, distributing reusable towels
Apart from conducting mentorship to empower girls with knowledge on menstrual hygiene, Core Health and Wealth International partners with Zana Africa to provide vulnerable girls with a pack of feminine products. The pack includes disposable sanitary towels (from Zana Africa) and reusable sanitary towels (made by our women in the tailoring enterprise). In future we intend to include a piece of soap, two panties, a bottle of sanitizer and more sensitization to the girls on proper hygiene, self confidence and sexual matters.
Every girl received both reusable and disposable sanitary towels
We have also entered into partnership with with the Fraunhofer Institut led by Clarissa together with the Making More Health Team from Boehringer Ingelheim in building an app with all basic knowledge on menstruation issues and other women health topics. With the availability of laptops and IPADs from the GoDigital program, they can walk into MMH kibisi garden center and read more from the app
Clarissa taking a number of girls through the SheMasomo App
