Siaya Strategic Assembly (SSA), a community-based organization, has launched a pad bank at Nyawita Secondary School in West Sakwa ward Bondo Sub County to increase access to free sanitary pads by school-going girls.
SSA patron Mr Ochieng Ajulu said the organization decided to establish a pad bank at a school in West Sakwa because of the high teenage pregnancy rate in the ward.
According to 2024 Kenya Health Information Systems data, teenage pregnancy remains high (21%) in Siaya County, while West Sakwa wards tops the thirty wards in Siaya with 828 teenage pregnancy cases.
Ajulu observed that the lack of pads has contributed significantly to rising cases of teenage pregnancies in the ward, adding that increased access to pads will avert incidences where young girls are sexually exploited by men.
Ajulu who was flanked by SSA secretary General Mr Isaac Ng’iendo said the pad bank will provide members of the community with an opportunity to contribute pads in the school so that girls who experience menses while in school are not forced to go home to get pads.
Mr Ng’iendo said that the provision of pads to school girls by SSA will address the issues of absenteeism and stigma among girls.
He said that most girls from day schools in the area stay away from school or suffer low self-esteem when they are on their periods, which affects their academic performance.
Ng’iendo disclosed that Nyawita secondary school pad bank is the sixth pad bank launched in Siaya County by SSA to increase access to sanitary towels among the girls.
The SSA secretary general further revealed that they will launch a similar facility at Usire Day School in West Sakwa Ward next week to benefit more girls in the region and to help combat early pregnancies.
Nyawita secondary school director of studies Mrs. Maryanne Saul, thanked the SSA group for the initiative saying most of the girls in the school come from homes which cannot afford buying sanitary towels.
She said that initially she was forced to purchase the pads for the girls from her own pocket or had to talk to the head teacher for assistance in order to provide pads for the needy girls.
“I want to sincerely thank the SSA group for remembering us. This initiative will help the girls access the pads and will also boost school attendance and help fight the stigma that causes low esteem among our girls,” said the teacher.
By Brian Ondeng
