His Excellency President Dr. Julius Maada Bio will today 2nd February 2023 officially launch the distribution of the Free Sanitary Pad Phase II campaign at the Bo Mini Stadium in Bo city.
The president will be distributing some six thousand (6,000) sanitary pads to hundreds of pupils in Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in Bo.
It could be recalled that on 14th December 2019, Her Excellency the First Lady Dr. Fatima Maada Bio launched the Maada and Fatima Bio Foundation’s Free Sanitary Pad for School Children’s Initiative.
The initiative has contributed immensely towards the protection, prevention and elimination of teenage pregnancy, early and forced marriage, child prostitution, forced labor and child trafficking in Sierra Leone.
The launch in the southern city of Bo will mark the beginning of the distribution process across the country as the First Lady and her team will be traveling to Kono, Port Loko, Waterloo, Makeni, Magburaka and Kambia respectively to physically handover Free Sanitary Pads to schoolgirls as a way of motivating them to abstain from all forms of sexual activities while still attending school.
The Free Sanitary Pad Campaign is an auxiliary project of the Hands Off Our Girls Campaign, which continues to advocate to government and private sector to ensure girls are safe and comfortable during their menstrual cycle by providing sanitary towels for them, as it is one step to ensure equal rights to education for girls.
Her Excellency the First Lady believes that menstruation is not a choice and therefore, sanitary pads must be made accessible and free for girls.
“Girls do not deserve to be absent from school for half a term or a whole academic year just because they do not have an alternative menstrual care system that secures their wellness during their menstrual cycle,” she said.
The First Lady will be using the distribution process across the country as a means to encourage girls to focus on their education and encourage parents and guardians to send their girls to school.
