More than 30,000 disadvantaged girls across Nakuru, Kajiado, Baringo, Nandi and Narok counties will get free re-usable sanitary pads.
This is an initiative involving a Nakuru-based textile company and an integrated health project supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Speaking during a press briefing, APHIAplus Nuru ya Bonde Project Director Ruth Odhiambo said that that this comes at a time when the government wants to zero-rate the number of girls who miss classes because of menses.
She said that re-usable sanitary kit has been proved to be good by the government and they have already distributed to orphans and vulnerable girls from poor families that the project supports in the five counties.
“The innovation supplements the government’s Sanitary Towels Program, launched in 2012 to provide the pads to school-going girls to ensure they do not miss classes during menstruation,” she said.
She said that the initiative was prompted by an urgent need to respond to the situation of girls in Kenya’s rural and low-income urban areas who cannot afford disposal sanitary pads.
“Many girls who cannot afford sanitary napkins resort to very risky means in desperate attempt to contain the menstrual flow such as use of leaves, pieces of old cloth or blanket, sponges, soil and even feathers,” she said.
The kit contains two pairs of underwear, three re-usable sanitary napkins and two convenient carrier bags and it costs less than Sh 700 to produce.
According to her the kits will be distributed to more than 11,700 girls in Nakuru, 6,300 in Kajiado, 4,270 in Narok, 3,700 in Laikipia, 2,750 in Baringo and 2,400 in Nandi.