The Federation of Ghana Medical Laboratory Student’s Association (FG MELSA), a female Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) based in Accra, in collaboration with Queen of the Lab has extended the promotion of healthy and safe menstruation and process to ensure its normality and regularities among girls in Njau-Tanoso a suburb of Nsawkaw in the Tain district of Bono region.
The FG MELSA, commemorating its 10th anniversary conducted a workshop on menstrual hygiene to continue its tradition of sharing knowledge with the underprivileged young girls.
The program, dubbed “My Period my Priority” with a theme; “Making Menstruation a Normality in our Dispensation”, was to encourage the young girls in their menstrual era to monitor and evaluate the propensity of their menstrual hygiene.
The Female Activist for FG MELSA Wocom, Ms. Florence Annie in an exclusive interview with Appiah-Kubi at the community where members of the NGO gave the menstrual education and distributed reusable sanitary pads said the vision was to create safe space for the girls where they could learn about issues affecting them on their menstrual periods.
“Some even don’t know the number of days they should be having their menstruation, and from their questions, we needed to educate and create more awareness of menstrual health and hygiene to them to prevent them from premature pregnancies”, she stressed.
“Almost 71% adolescent girls in Njau – Tanoso in the Tain district, in the Bono region remain unaware about menstrual hygiene, up until the onset of menarche”, she added.
The Female Activist stated that, as the NGO’s department on laboratory, there are many Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) amongst teen girls, hence the need to educate and promote menstrual health as the most important thing to girls and therefore the foundation is organizing series of programms to bring various school children within their menstrual ages together to educate them on menstrual hygiene.
“We have already visited some schools in Ghana to educate them on the need to observe menstrual hygiene. Today, we are here in Njau-Tanoso educating girls from the various schools, and it is our expectation that this exercise will be ongoing till we make significant impact”, the activist expressed.
The Member of Parliament for Tain, Hon. Sulemana Adama (Hom. Ramzy Adams) at the program as a special guest of honor to the program stressed and bemoaned that the rise of teenage pregnancies in his constituency concerning the inadequates of managements for menstrual education abhors. He posited that the situation is a major concern hence the intervention from FG MELSA to educate and mentor the girls on menstrual hygiene and teenage pregnancy. He cautioned the girls on the negative effects of teenage pregnancy and advised them to take their studies seriously.
The students expressed their appreciation to FG MELSA team for coming to their aid and supporting them during their menstruation and giving them the best solution to their menstrual challenges.
The FG MELSA as a non-governmental organization seeks to empower girls and women by transforming their social, reproductive, and economic lives. They also assist girls and women in the rewiring of their world views and the fostering of a transition in women from places of disempowerment to agents of positive change.
