By Polycarp Ifeanyi, Onitsha
The wife of Anambra State Governor, Her Excellency Nonye Soludo has launched Pad Bank in Anambra schools under Healthy Living With Nonye Soludo Initiative to mark this year’s International Day of the Girl Child.
The event was held on Wednesday at Governor’s lodge, Amawbia, Anambra State and attended by numerous schools, their guiding councilors and ambassadors across Anambra State.
It also featured lectures on Girls Child Right And Sexuality, Girls Child Life Skill Training, Innovative Career/ Digital Skills and Drama presentation.
Delivering her address during the event, Dr. Mrs.Nonye Soludo noted that celebrating this year’s International Day of the Girl Child is a clear understanding of the challenges before girls in their pursuit of a safe and great future.
She said, ” We are also looking at the possibility out there for the girls and how they can take hold of them. But, the truth is that these opportunities are limited and distorted largely because of so many household obstacles.
According to her, every girl has the fundamental right to live and succeed. Once we deny them these rights, we have taken a backward step that will ultimately have damaging effects on our society.
“One of the significant goal of our crusade in Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo is to explore smart avenues and rekindle the consciousness of self-belief and knowledge of individual potential of our girls”
She further stated that, “We are also teaching them the rules of Hygiene, nutrition and self development. Nutrition and personal hygiene are, of cause, two of the five pillars of our Crusade. We see them as an important process for Child development. In the area of hygiene, we are also looking at menstrual hygiene and the overall health education of women and girls, especially those in the low income class.”
She hinted that Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo has taken a step further to promote menstrual hygiene in secondary Schools where Healthy Living Club are domiciled, adding that arrangements to provide Sanitary Pad Banks in over four hundred Secondary Schools across Anambra State where their clubs are currently operating.
” Accessibility to primary hygiene needs like sanitary Pad Banks remains a major concern in rural homes. It gets even worse when menstrual emergencies break out in schools. Therefore, we want to intervene where it matters the most.
Today, we will be distributing over a thousand sanitary pads to our schools to kick off the campaign. Subsequent distributions will be done at the beginning of each academic term, with enough supplies to last throughout a particular academic calendar”
She disclosed that the statistics of girls and women in their reproductive age bracket with access to basic menstrual requirements are begging for better attention, saying that the distribution of sanitary pads is their own way of paying attention to that.
She assured that Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo is committed to promoting and protecting the fundamental objectives of right health, stating that they want to achieve a society that opens up a platform of equal aspiration for every gender.
“Take your education seriously, no matter any distraction. Whatever you want to achieve lies in your hands. Success is 95% achieved through hard working. You must work hard. It is through education you can aspire to any level and it will bring you out of shackles of poverty. Therefore, empower yourself” Nonye Soludo concluded.
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