KINGSTON, Jamaica — The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) says it will be providing US$10,000 worth of sanitary hygiene products to a number of local organisations as Jamaica joins the rest of the world to commemorate World Menstrual Hygiene day observed today.

The foundation said the aim is to bring attention to the challenges faced by women and girls to access information, care and menstrual hygiene products.

Organisations set to receive menstrual hygiene products include the Department of Correctional Services, Child Protection & Family Services Agency, Mustard Seed Communities, Girls to Women Development Foundation, Girls Do Good Foundation, Penwood High School, Women’s Health Network, HerFlow and Hagley Park Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The AHF is championing the need to end menstrual hygiene poverty and stigma and will be launching a global campaign under the slogan “A necessity, not a luxury!” It said the initiative is designed to provide resources to the most vulnerable.

Caribbean Regional Director of AHF, Dr Kevin Harvey, said that as part of this global initiative, his organisation will be providing resources to a number of groups locally with a view to assisting women and girls with much needed menstrual hygiene supplies.

“Menstrual poverty is an issue in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean. We don’t often talk about the consequences of menstrual poverty and so many people are not aware that a lack of access can lead to a number of issues for women and girls,” he explained.

Menstrual poverty is the inability of people, mainly girls, to purchase menstrual products, which include not only sanitary pads and tampons, but also pain relievers and underwear.

 According to the foundation, the situation is further worsened in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It said menstrual poverty has serious consequences, such as forcing people, mainly girls, adolescents and women, to stay at home, not allowing them to enter school and work, and so negatively impacting their education and opportunities. The AHF said this situation also increases existing vulnerabilities, pushing women and girls towards dangerous coping mechanisms, such as actually engaging in transactional sex to obtain money for the purchase of sanitary napkins or tampons.