HOWELL, New Jersey — Estimates indicate that period poverty in Kenya keeps one million young girls out of school. When extreme poverty prevents girls from being able to access menstrual products, they are oftentimes forced to stay home and put their education on the back burner while relying on unsanitary methods of managing their menstrual cycles. Several organizations aim to address this issue.
Period Poverty in Kenya
When girls are given access to necessities, school attendance spikes. For more than 10 years, Kenya has seen monumental progress in keeping girls in school by increasing the accessibility of pads, tampons and other menstrual products by lowering the price of menstrual products in stores and by providing these products free of charge in schools. Ensuring young girls are able to use menstrual products not only ensures every young woman can manage her period in a healthy and sanitary way but also diminishes the menstrual stigma that keeps girls out of school and the workplace.
Period poverty in Kenya links not only to decreased rates of attendance in schools but also risky sexual behaviors, teen pregnancies and the spread of HIV. Studies directly tie deprivation of menstrual products “to high-risk sexual activity.” Economically vulnerable girls trade sex for access to basic necessities like pads, tampons, soaps and more. Period poverty thus makes many young Kenyan girls more vulnerable to sexual predators. This has lifelong consequences that culminate in mental health issues, limited educational and career opportunities as well as the additional financial and emotional strain of pregnancy and childcare as a teenager. These poverty-induced sexual encounters are also responsible for spreading HIV among school girls. In Kenya, teenage girls account for about 66% of new HIV infections.
Kenya’s Timeline of Fighting Period Poverty
- 2004 – Kenya became the very first nation globally to completely eliminate the luxury tax on tampons. This was a major step to make menstrual products more affordable, however, many menstrual products were still costly, meaning accessibility only improved slightly.
- 2011 – The Kenyan government then eliminated import taxes on pads and allotted an annual amount of $3 million to distribute pads to vulnerable communities free of charge.
- 2018 – Kenya began an initiative to distribute pads to all girls in public schools. The government successfully supplied 140 million pads over just the first four months of the initiative and saw rapid results in school attendance.
Growing Movements to Fight Period Poverty in Kenya
The Kenyan government is far from alone in the fight against period poverty. Nonprofits are also taking tremendous steps to empower girls in the classroom by providing menstrual products free of charge. Many of these organizations are also able to expand from just providing girls with sanitary pads to address more nuanced issues that relate to period poverty in Kenya.
PadHeaven, for instance, is a nonprofit that has been dispensing sanitary pads to local schools for free since 2012. Over the years, the organization noticed that providing washable, reusable pads provides a more sustainable solution and makes young girls less dependent on regular help. Because of this, PadHeaven began giving out more reusable pads as a cheaper, long-term solution. PadHeaven also sought to address the stigma and misinformation surrounding menstruation by also providing girls and parents with an educational book on period health in conjunction with reusable pads.
World Vision’s Efforts
World Vision’s period poverty work in Kenya specifically focuses on Lamu county, an area that sees very high numbers of girls missing out on school upon reaching puberty as well as period poverty-related teen pregnancies. Because young girls are forced to trade sex for access to essentials like panties, soaps, lotions and menstrual products, World Vision expanded its work, dispensing these necessities for free to young women. Making sure that girls are not lacking essentials prevents transactional sex and the transmission of HIV/AIDS to impoverished girls. World Vision also commits to supporting young mothers by providing them with these basics to help them raise their children and encourage the mothers to stay in school.
Period poverty is far from a simple issue. But, the approaches of the Kenyan government, PadHeaven and World Vision all highlight the importance and effectiveness of providing girls with free menstrual products to maintain their access to education.
– Jaya Patten
Photo: Flickr