Girls in Kenya have been given washable sanitary pads, underwear and soap to enable them to continue at school while on their period, a charity has announced.
According to an Oxford University study in Ghana, poorer girls miss up to five days of school as they stay at home during menstruation. As well as embarrassment, the study found men put more pressure on the girls to have intercourse when it was apparent they were sexually mature, including their male teachers.
Sanitary pads allow children to attend school, but disposable versions are expensive and using cloth, newspaper or mattress padding can cause leaks or infection.
One Kenyan girl told the broadcaster Voice of America that pads cost the same as a bag of corn flour.
Huru International, a US-backed charity, has developed reusable terry-cloth pads which are sewn and packaged into kits with information about AIDS and safe sex at a community centre in Nairobi, funded by the charity AmericaShare.
The partnership project includes the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, Sunflag Steel and Warner Brothers.
AmericaShare, set up by New York travel company Micato Safaris, plans to encourage African women to set up their own pad-making businesses using microfinance loans.
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