27 Jun 2018

Queen Esther organisation’s project officer, Ms Goitseone Shumbane has called on the government to consider giving out sanitary towels freely instead of condoms which she said were under-utilised.

She expressed concern that government and some non-governmental organisations continued to spend millions buying and distributing condoms whereas sanitary towels were on high demand and yet expensive especially for school going children.

She expressed concern in an interview noting that government was wasting money on free condoms which were not used as expected.

Queen Esther is a girl empowerment organisation. The organisation empowers the girl child with life skills so that she can live a triumphant and excellent life style.

Ms Shumbane appreciated the fact that the government distributed free condoms for those who could not afford to buy fancy condoms but it was unfortunate as they got expired in public places.

“In villages, townships and cities you will find them thrown at dumping sites and rubbish bins,” she added.

She said her organisation had made efforts to promote free sanitary towels to public schools citing their campaign which aimed to request government and private companies to provide free sanitary towels to school going girls across the country.

The campaign, she said was led by Komana Primary School.

“Our campaign aims to appeal to parents, business community and other stakeholders at large to help in providing sanitary towels to Komana Primary School, other schools and the community where girls and woman cannot afford them,’’ she said.

Ms Shumbane described lack of sanitary towels amongst school going children as a national crisis which needed urgent attention.

She said some families were unable to assist their children with sanitary towels because of unemployment.

Some girls, she said, resorted to use newspapers and pieces of cloth.

Ms Shumbane said it was worrying as some pupils could miss classes or even drop out of school because they could not afford sanitary towels.

Guidance and counselling teacher at Komana Primary School, Ms Ellen Otimile appreciated efforts by Queen Esther but stated that both sanitary towels and condoms were equally critical in today’s life.

She said free condoms were introduced to address the issues of Sexual transmitted infections, HIV prevalence, and teenage pregnancies that also had an impact on school drop outs.

Ms Otimile concurred that both sanitary towels and condoms could be distributed freely for the benefit of young people.

Ms Otimile appealed to parents, private companies and the public at large to extend a helping hand with sanitary towels towards girls in schools across the country. ENDS