Nkhata Bay girls’ sanitation woes over

United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) through Forum for African Women Educationists (Fawema) has rescued about 5 000 school going girls in Chikwina and Kavuzi zones in Nkhata Bay District, with 23 latest Singer sewing machines.

The organisation also trained 62 mother group members in re-usable sanitary pad making to improve girl child school retention in upper classes as well as enhancing menstrual hygiene among the girls.

Speaking on Saturday, on the sidelines of a three day intensive hands-on training at Kavuzi in the district, Fawema project officer Thokozani Phiri said: “We realised with great shock that most girls have been using papers and maize cobs to controls their menstruation periods.

Nkhata Bay district school health and nutrition coordinator Andrew Chaziya commended Unicef for the timely intervention.

The project, pegged at over K8 million ($14,286) for Nkhata Bay alone, covers 23 schools in the two zones. n