A non-governmental organisation, Girls To Women With Ease Foundation (G2WE) has advised women across the country to desist from using rags, newspapers and tissue papers for menstruation.
The group noted that constant usage of those items may cause infections, cancer and infertility among women, especially young couples
Team lead of the organisation, Dr. Olufunmi Adegbile made these disclosures during an awareness programme aimed at sensitizing Oyo State residents against the use of rags, tissue papers, newspapers and other unhealthy materials for menstruation in Ibadan.
Adegbile said that the campaign to sensitive women, particularly, young girls in major markets such Aleshinloye, Mokola, Bodija and Dugbe in Ibadan was part of activities to mark the World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
She said, “We are looking at menstrual health/menstrual hygiene of our women, particularly the young girls and today is world menstrual hygiene day. We have been going to public schools to train them towards good menstrual hygiene.
“We discovered that many girls are using rags for menstruation and this was so alarming that we have to say no to it. We discovered that even those students were not ashamed of it, because they don’t know that sanitary pads exist. Today, we are taking the campaign to their mothers in the markets, to give them the pads to take home to their children.
“They don’t know that it is harmful and it is bad. Quite a number of married couples have issue with infertility and when they went for tests, we discovered that those women have been carrying infections for years and these infections were traced to bad menstrual hygiene, more particularly those that used rags when they were young. We said that we must put an end to this and that is what we are doing.
“Today, we are taking our campaign to four major markets in Ibadan to educate mothers and give sanitary towels for free to them and their children.
“It is alarming that girls don’t see use of rags as a shameful thing. For instance, in a school of 300 of girls within menstruation age, you find out that 64 girls are still using rags in school, and this is quite harmful as they are prone to infection.”
