PROJECT EVERY GIRL
EST.
2017
empowerment for every girl in Kenya: Access to Feminine hygiene products & education
Days for Girls founder Celeste Mergens On Feminine HyGiene and education in Kenya
Celeste Mergens describes her experience in a Kenyan girls' orphanage. Celeste and her team members were discussing a few issues that affected the girls: sustainability, electricity, sanitation... Celeste wondered, what do girls do when they are menstruating? And the rest is history. Days for Girls is a nonprofit organization that seeks to educate and empower girls to overcome the embarrassment that comes with periods and provide them with feminine hygiene products.
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Even in the United States, the access to feminine hygiene products is only now being recognized as a human right and not a luxury.
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Kenya, a country on the eastern border of Africa, has been a world leader in menstrual health in the past few years. However, it is far from perfect. In some parts of Kenya, girls are made to isolate themselves from their communities for the duration of their period and some may not have any access to sanitary items, such as tampons or pads.
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HL 322 International Health Issues
Fall 2017
Why is this a problem?
Find Out More
about menstruation
Visual Guide to a Cycle
There are a wide variety of supplies a woman can choose from ranging from pads, liners, tampons with different applicators, and most recently, menstrual cups to manage her period.
Unfortunately, these products can have taxes added onto them in some areas, making them too expensive and out of reach for those living below the poverty line.
On top of this, these products can be made with harmful fabrics and chemicals, and in the case of tampons, can cause Toxic Shock Syndrome
Periods can negatively affect girls across the world in a multitude of ways:
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1. It can cause girls to skip school or work and miss out on advancement opportunities, or to drop out of school entirely.
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2. It can cause girls physical pain, and without proper methods or supplies, can result in serious infections that can be life threatening.
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3. It can cause girls to become depressed from the social stigma surrounding periods that make her feel isolated and looked down on.
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4. Though some places have done away with a tax on MHM products, disposable supplies still remain extremely expensive and can be a financial burden for families.
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5. In order to continue her education, girls may engage in transactional sex to purchase the products necessary to manage her periods. This puts her at increased risk for sexual violence, STIs, and unplanned pregnancies.
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6. A struggle facing third world countries is how to dispose of disposable MHM products. This adds to the environmental, and specifically sanitation, crises facing these countries.