ActionAid Ghana, a Non-governmental Organisation (NGO), has commemorated the 2025 Menstrual Hygiene Day with a strong call on stakeholders at all levels to implement targeted interventions that ensure menstruation does not hinder the holistic development of girls.
The NGO underscored the need to integrate comprehensive menstrual hygiene education into school curricula, strengthen adolescent-friendly health services, particularly in rural communities, and prioritize menstrual hygiene in district development plans and budgets.
Mr Aaron Amatus Dangboor, the Upper West Regional Programme Officer of ActionAid Ghana, made the call during the celebration held at Tizza in the Jirapa Municipality.
The event was organized in partnership with the Young Urban Women Movement (YUWM) under the theme: “Together for a Period-Friendly World.”
The commemoration brought together school children, teachers, officials from the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Jirapa and Lambussie Districts, traditional leaders and other stakeholders.
The celebration featured a role play on menstrual hygiene, a menstrual hygiene educational session, donation of reusable sanitary pads, and experience-sharing by girls about their first menstruation.
Mr Dangboor said ActionAid Ghana has been proactive in promoting menstrual hygiene by constructing gender-sensitive Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities in schools, distributing reusable sanitary pads, and training young girls in their production among others.
He said it was important for stakeholder collaboration to eliminate menstruation as a barrier to girls’ education or for them to use unsafe menstrual hygiene materials.
Madam Florence Angsomwine, the Jirapa Municipal Director of Health Services, reiterated the need for collective responsibility in supporting girls during their menstrual periods.
“We have a collective responsibility to ensure that girls get the needed support to enable them to study in school during their menstrual periods, we all need to be involved”, she said.
Madam Angsomwine encouraged the girls to be bold and ask for support from the right people including their parents, guardians, and teachers to manage their menstruation.
She said girls must observe proper hygiene practices and cautioned against the use of painkillers to manage menstrual cramps.
Mr Anthony Kwame Ayekey, Assistant Director at the Jirapa Municipal Assembly, assured of the Assembly’s continued collaboration with ActionAid Ghana to ensure menstruation did not become a barrier to girls’ education and personal development.
The Menstrual Hygiene Day celebration aligns with ActionAid Ghana’s Strategic Priority Three (SP3) of its Country Strategic Paper (CSP) VII, which aims to promote active citizenship, accountability, and gender-responsive public services.
The SP3 focused on ensuring access to sanitation services including empowering girls and young women to demand quality reproductive health services and challenging systems that marginalized girls during their menstrual periods, among others.
GNA