Positive Masculanity Gender Equality and Women Empowerment

Boys and Girls pledge to fully engage in Menstrual Hygiene Management

Periods are a fact of life. It is not something we can change. Yet, there is a stigma attached to periods. On any given day, more than 300 million people are menstruating, despite menstrual hygiene remains a neglected component that affects the life course of many women and girls. Worldwide, it is estimated that currently; about 800milions women and girls globally face constraints in their needs to manage their menstruation well. In many parts of the world including Rwanda, periods can stop girls living normal lives. Girls still feel embarrassed or ashamed when on their periods, use improper subtitles as sanitary products, and even miss out on vital education because of them. While girls’ and women’s menstrual health and hygiene have been going unmet, the issue has become even worse due to Covid-19 pandemic consequences.
Evode Niyibizi, Program Manager, African Youth and Adolescents Network population (AfriYAN Rwanda) confirmed that the majority of menstruating girls are stigmatized by people around them.
He adds that the majority of women have no access to clean and safe sanitary products which has a long-lasting impact, especially on the school-going-girl children.
"Lack of facilities, stigma, and inappropriate sanitary products can push menstruating girls out of school," he says. "but through our aim, we hope to have a country in which no woman or girl is held back because she menstruates. For this to be a reality, we put forward the crucial role of men and boys, by educating them as we educate our sisters”.

Now that the whole world needs to join efforts together towards ending periods poverty more than ever, Community Health Boosters commits to this agenda in solidarity with the whole globe towards creating the world where everyone can access and afford the menstrual products of their choice, period stigma is history, everyone has basic information about menstruation (this also includes boys and men) and everyone can access period-friendly water, sanitation & hygiene facilities everywhere. Like this towards creation of a world where no woman or girl is held back because she menstruates by 2030, CHB through the African Youth and Adolescents Network (AfriYAN-Rwanda) have conducted a one-week Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) campaign (from 24th-28th, May 2021). The campaign aimed at breaking the silence around menstrual hygiene management in order to build a community where women and girls are no longer limited by their periods.

As part of the activities during the campaign, 20 adolescent peer ambassadors (boys and girls) were trained on menstruation and its linkage to sexual and reproductive health, harmful social culture norms on individual, community, systematic and institutional level as well as stigma and taboos that affect women and girl’s menstrual health and their participation in public daily life. In addition, these youths and adolescents were trained on management of menstrual hygiene using the Self-made Reusable Menstrual Pads in a way to help those girls/women who can’t afford the price of single use pads. Moreover, the participants were given a total of 75 packs of single use pads as an aid in management of their periods whereas other 50 packs were distributed in the girls’ rooms at 1 secondary school during the conduction of menstrual hygiene management outreach there.
Youth and Students Speak out
Rose mbabazi, the head girl, G.S Kimironko II said she knows her fellow girls who skip classes due to lack of necessary menstrual management equipment alongside problems of stigma and embarrassment around menstruation.
Anaclet Ahishakiye, executive director of Community Health Boosters a youth-led NGO founded by students from the University of Rwanda’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences, said they are committed to creating solidarity where every girl and woman can access and afford the menstrual product of their choice.

Towards creating the world where everyone can access and afford the menstrual product of their choice, period stigma is history, everyone has basic information about menstruation (this also includes boys and men) and everyone can access period-friendly water, sanitation & hygiene facilities everywhere; there is a need of multi-stakeholders’ (non-profits, government agencies, individuals, the private sector and the media, etc.) efforts, and inclusion of both girls/women and boys/men.
There is a need for increased investments in community awareness raising programs (to break the silence, and change negative social norms around MHM), sanitation facilities including availability of water, soaps, disposal places, private rooms for girls and women, and menstrual hygiene materials.

YAhealth is a bilingual (Kinyarwanda and English), user and age-centered (age groups 10-14, 15-19 and 20-24) offline-online MobileApp, Web Application and USSD Code (*411#) that provides youth and adolescent with reliable and trusted SRHR/FP and Mental Health information, connects them to the available services and gives them a room to talk and interact freely with peers or ASRH and Mental Health Experts.
The misconceptions, fear of judgments by the community, families, health workers and peers, lack of awareness on availability of services, affordability, stigma and embarrassment among others, limit the access to sexual and reproductive and mental health information and related services, and it negatively impacts the lives of young people and adolescents. This way, we’ve come up with an innovation to revolutionize youths’ lives. Smart and mobile phones, mobile apps, and the internet are part of most of youth’s life. Referring to this technology, we invented Youth and Adolescent Health “YAhealth” Application, as the new technology in the community to address this predicament challenge.
In addition, the YAhealth App has:
Menstrual Cycle tracking system that helps girls/women to track and predict their next menstruation and fertile periods, and get notified prior to each of these periods. This then contributes to a proper menstrual hygiene management and prevention of teenage/unwanted pregnancies.
Self- Mental Health Status Screening System with a mix of standardized questions set by WHO on distinguished mental health disorders facing young people, for early and easy detection.
Private Chat which helps young people to chat with ASRHR/FP and Mental Health experts in a youth-friendly and confidential way
Discussion Forum that offers a safe space to openly and freely talk and interact with fellow peers in a youth-friendly, private and confidential environment. This reduces stigma and embarrassment, and isolation, discrimination, anxiety and depression that may arise from loneliness and other factors.
Service Location Tracker which helps the young people to locate the service delivery points including Health centers, Hospitals and Isange One-Stop Center, clinics, youth-friendly centers and corners, and condom kiosks on the map.
Gamified Quizzes which helps young people to assess their level of skills in regards to SRHR/FP and mental health
This Application aims at creating a rapid demand and increasing awareness and uptake of Family Planning/Sexual and Reproductive and Mental Health services amongst youth and adolescents.