African Menstrual Health Initiative
Supporting Menstrual and Sexual Health amongst young girls and women across Africa
The ‘African Menstrual Health Initiative’ (AMI) is a program that seeks to empower students and young girls throughout the African continent through menstrual health management and education. For many girls, the right to education is still one that is not equitable to many. AMI utilizes teaching, collaboration, and conversation to help address gaps in knowledge surrounding menstruation and teach girls how to use and gain access to various forms of menstrual products, teaching the science and biology behind why menstruation occurs, and using this knowledge and our dialogue to help deconstruct and breakdown stigma surrounding menstruation in girls’ local communities.
Period Poverty in Nigeria
In Nigeria, girls make up 60% of Nigeria’s 10 million out of school children with Nigeria accounting for 45% of all out-of-school children in West Africa. Menstrual health management (MHM) and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) are two sectors of girls’ and women’s health that play a significant role in one’s ability of properly attending school in an equitable fashion.
Fundraising
Funding will go into providing laptops and internet to students to be able to participate in the program for the two-four-month duration, along with being able to bring in speakers who work and advocate for menstrual health management and reproductive health across the world and doctors who can help provide proper education regarding the science and biology behind menstruation that is vital for students to understand for their health.
Our why
Menstrual sanitation is deeply tied to an adolescent’s girl sense of identity and sexuality and is an essential navigator into other aspects of life including health and education. To address the growing disproportion of girl’s who are out-of-school children, implementing such a program can become the beginning of a growing educational program that properly tackles the issue of MHM and the stigma surrounding it while also helping empower girls by assisting in providing them an education, a teamwork ethic, and a voice to be able to advocate for themselves, form supportive networks in their local communities, gain access resources, and spread awareness beyond the program.
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions.
Email
africanmenstrualinitiative@gmail.com