ANPA/DHI/AMI 2025 Menstrual Hygiene Workshop Program
AMI, in collaboration with Doctor’s Health Initiative (DHI) and the Association of Nigerian Physicians in the Americas (ANPA), successfully hosted its first in-person menstrual hygiene workshop at the Wavecrest School of Hospitality!
Our Impact
Throughout this 4-day workshop, we taught 30 girls at Wavecrest College of Hospitality (ages 17-30):
Menstrual Anatomy and the science of menstruation, including how and why menses occur, how hormones work, how prostaglandins impact pain, and more!
The menstrual cycle, phases of menses, and how to track the menstruation
Causes and treatments for primary and secondary dysmenorrhea including PMS, PMDD, Fibroids, Endometriosis, and PCOS
Menstrual Hygiene and how to use, clean, and dispose of different period products including pads, tampons, menstrual cups, reusable pads, and reusable period underwear (addressing toxic shock syndrome as well)
Reproductive health education, including common STIs/STDs (genital herpes, chlamydia and gonorrhea, syphilis, HPV, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis), bacterial vs. viral infections, treatments for various STIs, how birth control works and other methods of contraceptives, what sexual assault is, and what consent is
How to identify complications with one’s period, communicate symptoms with your doctor, and clinical advocacy
Group projects and presentations where students choose a topic regarding menstrual health to research and explore more while identifying local programs and teaching tangible solutions to those problems
Reusable Pad Training Program
In addition to our curriculum, AMI hosted our first reusable pad training program, teaching our students how to sew and clean their reusable sanitary pads. This includes teaching the materials, all available in local markets at affordable prices, used to construct the pads, the purpose of each layer, how to customize one’s pad for blood flow, and how to build and sew the pad together.
The impact of reusable pad training is immeasurable!
Cost-effective way of owning their menstruation product: cost is a large barrier to accessing pads across the African continent. The tax and price placed on importing and selling period products often trade off with other necessities menstruators may need including food, supplies for school and work, and more. All of the materials for the pads are locally sourced and can reduce the price of a pad by over half the amount sewing their own. As well, because this pad is reusable, they do not need to continuously purchase new products.
Skills: Pad training provides new skills that can be taught and passed down beyond our workshop which is essential for continuous impact.
Empowerment: teaching people how to sew their pads also means that our girls can take control and ownership over menstruation. This autonomy lets them dictate their narratives, empower one another, and continue problem-solving and finding new solutions to combat period poverty in their day to day
Laptop Sponsorship Program
We launched our laptop sponsorship program to help enhance the rest of our students’ education. With just a $180 donation, you can help change a girl’s educational opportunities by sponsoring their laptop. We are so excited that we were able to fundraise $2700 to sponsor 15 laptops for 15/30 students! We hope to continue fundraising so we can get our whole class and on-the-ground staff laptops for their education and careers. If you are interested in supporting, please donate below to the laptop fund!