Thousands of students from both primary and Secondary schools in Nyamira County have a reason to smile, after County Chief Health Officer announced a plan to donate sanitary towels in every three months starting from this financial year.
Speaking at Omoyo secondary during AGM meeting on Tuesday, Douglas Bosire said his department had consulted the County Assembly and the project would receive a Sh20million allocation in the 2015/16 budget that is yet to be announced.
He said the move will reduce the absenteeism recorded by school girls who stay at home during their monthly periods, helping them improve the performance in schools.
“I want to make it clear that the county government will be donating sanitary towels to our girls from next month after the budget is out. The budget committee had agreed to allocate 20 million for the exercise. We want to see our girls reporting to school during their periods,” he said.
Bosire said the exercise will run parallel to that of Nyamira county First lady Hon. Naomi Nyagaram,a since it will be done regularly by the department of health.
“I understand the First lady is running a similar exercise, but it’s important to note that this one will be in the budget. Therefore, whatever Mrs. Nyagarama is doing will be a supplementary to our programme,” he added.
The move was welcomed by school girls from Omoyo who termed it as ‘indispensable and morale boosting’ since most of them have been casualties of the problems experienced during their menstrual cycle.