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Girls get sanitary boost

 SANFROSSA MANYINDA writes

@sunzambian

VISION Zambia Initiative (VZI) has launched the Dignity Campaign aimed reducing class absenteeism among girls because of difficulty in managing menstrual periods.

VZI Executive Director, Namutula Sindila, is therefore confident that the campaign would play a huge role in fighting illiteracy and poverty in its entirety.

She was speaking during the Dignity Campiagn launch in Kitwe at the Weekend.

Ms Sindila said her organisation reached out to over 15,000 girls with sanitary pads, toilet paper, bathing soap and face masks among other needs last year and that it targets a further 25,000 girls in 2021 under the dignity campaign.

An estimated one million girls in Zambia have no access to proper sanitation infrastructure and sanitary towels with reusable sanitary towels as the only option.

According to a report by the global press journal in Zambia, girls often miss school because of difficulty in managing menstrual periods.

The girls lack sanitary supplies, poverty as high as 78 percent in rural Zambia and sanitary pads costing about $1 per packet.

Ms Sindila said girls had a right to a dignified period hence her organization embarking on a dignity campaign which would also incorporate sensitisation on gender based violence, children’s rights, sexual reproductive health, the re-entry policy, teen pregnancy and early marriages.

“The covid 19 pandemic has negatively affected the organization’s endeavour to reach out to girls with some ending up in marriages while over 1,800 girls recently dropped out of school in Kitwe due to their need for economic survival.

“Last year, under the Pad-a-Thon Campaign, we distributed 15,000 sanitary towels to underprivileged girls mainly in examination classes in various communities in Kitwe, Mansa, Mushindamo and Kalumbila . It is our hope that we double last year’s figures and reach a minimum of 25,000 girls, of course with your help,” she said.

Ms Sindila explained that the Dignity Campaign was born against the understanding that education and health are both basic human rights and so is a dignified life.

She added that every girl deserved a dignified life where she was able to live a fulfilling life regardless of her status in society.

She also said it was the organisation’s hope and aim that each and every girl reached out to had a chance at achieving her dreams therefore contributing to the development of her community and the country at large.

Meanwhile, Kitwe District Education Board Secretary Christopher Nyungila, commended the team for coming to the aid of school going girls and assured the organisation of government’s full support.

Mr Nyungila said education without health was nothing stating that his office would always stand with organisations which stood at helping a girl child.

The total amount of K23,235 was raised from both pledges and cash donations at the campaign fundraising launch.

The team also auctioned two Dignity CampaignT-shirts at the value of K5,400.

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