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Hwange Bureau
A final student at Lupane State University (LSU) is raising awareness on the plight of the girl child failing to access sanitary wear for her menstruation period through campaigns in Matabeleland.
Gugulethu Dlodlo has embarked on the project and has teamed up with students from her campus and other institutions.
Together with Loveness Jere from Catholic University of Zimbabwe, Roseline Musekiwa and Nozintombi Nyathi, all students from LSU as well as Natasha Mthethwa a student nurse have so far managed to donate 400 packets of sanitary pads to a Bulawayo orphanage home.
Dlodlo told Indaba that their #padagirl campaign is to raise awareness on the plight of the girl child in Zimbabwe.
“Some girls do not have access to sanitary wear hence end up using cow dung, pieces of blanket clothes, newspapers and other unsanitary stuff as ‘pads’ during menstruation. This comes with adverse health conditions at the end of the day,” said Dlodlo.
She said most girls who are using unsafe sanitary wear usually miss school and this hugely affects their academics.
Through the #padagirl campaign, they aim to donate sanitary wear to every vulnerable girl child in Matabeleland region although they are yet to cover a number of districts.
“We are yet to donate sanitary wear in areas such as Plumtree, Nkayi and Insiza within the Matabeleland region,” she said.
About 72 percent of school girls in rural areas do not use commercial sanitary wear, resorting to unhygienic means. It is in this regard that the government of Zimbabwe has joined other African countries like South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia and Kenya in providing free sanitary towels to school girls, who cannot afford to buy their own. Indaba
