Plans are under way to establish a sanitary towel manufacturing factory in Kisii following increased demand for sanitary pads among school girls from poor families in Kisii County.
The move is meant to ensure the sanitary towels are readily accessible and affordable not only to school girls but also to women from the region.
Speaking at Ibeno CoG Primary school in Nyaribari Chache Sub-County on Wednesday, Kisii County CeC for Culture, Youth and Sports Ibrahim Omari Moiro, said the Kisii County government under the leadership of Governor James Ongwae was set to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Lions Club International to establish a sanitary pads manufacturing factory in the county.
Moiro said the MoU was in the advanced stages and it will soon be signed to unveil the partnership terms and conditions of engagement between the two partners.
"Plans are under way to have a sanitary pads manufacturing factory established in our county. This follows the signing of an MoU between the Kisii County Government and the Lions Club International, whose partnership will facilitate the establishment of the sanitary pads factory in this region to ensure our school girls and women access the pads conveniently and cheaply," said Moiro.
Moiro said if the factory is established, it will not only improve school retention among school girls, but will also improve their performance as they will not skip their lessons during their monthly periods due to lack of sanitary pads.
Moiro said cases of school girls from the region being forced to skip their school lessons due to lack of sanitary towels, lead to poor performance in routine school learning and curriculum activities which translates to poor performance in national examinations.