Telecommunications giant Safaricom is set to provide for more than 800,000 girls who will be sitting national examinations in a few days time with the sanitary towels.
Through MPESA Foundation, Safaricom will be partnering with sanitary towels manufacturers in a deal that will cost almost Sh281 million.
Safaricom CEO Michael Joseph said the move is to help girls who cannot afford the pads to have a peace of mind during the exam period.
“It is wrong when a natural occurrence turns into a moment of shame for our young girls. We have continuously seen young girls in parts of the country result in using bits of mattresses, old cloths, leaves or even sheets of newspapers as makeshift pads because they cannot afford sanitary towels. This makes them live in isolation during menstruation which affects their education,” said Michael Joseph as quoted by People Daily.
He also added that due to lack of pads for school girls, they are forced to engage in sexual activities with older men as a way of securing money for pads.
“Some girls engage in risky sexual behaviour to access money to buy sanitary pads. This is of major concern. We want to bring back dignity to our young girls,” Joseph said.
Safaricom will be working with the Ministry of Education in distributing the pads all over the country.