The Alliance for Reproductive Health Rights (ARHR), a non-governmental organization, has emphasized the need for the government to abolish levies on sanitary items.
“The high cost of sanitary products is adding to the discomfort and pains associated with menstrual cycle, which is having a serious toll on hygiene and education of some adolescents,” it said.
Speaking to the media after a two-day training for Adolescent Health Champions in Ho, appealed to the government to support local producers of sanitary products to reduce the cost.
She said sanitary pads were not available in some communities and especially in the rural areas, and asked the government to help the local manufacturers to produce more to make it available and affordable.
Ms Gyawu said adolescents have a lot of potentials that must be developed, hence society must provide them with the enabling environment and proper guidance to explore these potentials.
She appealed to parents to continue to offer the needed physical, emotional and spiritual support to their children to enhance their overall well-being.
The training was to build the capacity of the Adolescent Health Champions on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (ASRHR) to effectively continue their work as peer educators.
A total of 20 out-of-school adolescents from the South Dayi District of the Volta Region benefited from the training, supported by the United Nations Population Fund.
Madam Albertina Alipui, the Acting Programme and Administration Manager, Volta Educational Renaissance Foundation (VEReF), said it was important to educate adolescents on reproductive health rights and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence to protect them.
The programme has empowered most of the adolescents to demand their sexual rights and report those who abused them to the appropriate authorities.
Some of the beneficiaries thanked the organisers for the empowerment on their sexual rights and pledged to carry out their duties as peer educators in their various communities to achieve the desired results.