Pieces of cloth, old mattresses, cotton wool, old t-shirts and carton pieces form the array of unhygienic sanitary items that young girls and women use in Kenya's low-income settlement areas.
If the cost of sanitary products has never been an issue for you, let me explain the economics of menstruation. You see on average, a girl menstruates for four days in a 28-day cycle and uses four sanitary pads on each day. Therefore, using 16-20 pads a month. This will set her back about Sh200 a month. (This could be higher depending on cycle lengths and menstrual flow)
For some, this is pocket change, but for a vast majority, this is equivalent to three kilograms of maize or three litres of milk. Whereas menstruating can be a mere inconvenience at best and a slight bump in the road at worst for some- for many girls in Kawangware, Kibera, Mukuru, Dandora, Laini saba, Kariobangi, Korogocho and Mathare, every cycle presents a mind-numbing economic predicament. The choice between sanitary products and food is a no brainer.
In addition to #PeriodPoverty ('Period poverty' refers to having a lack of access to sanitary products due to financial constraints), water and sanitation is also a colossal luxury for the 2.6 million people who live in Nairobi’s low-income settlements. Shared public toilets with inadequate water is a daily reality. Never mind that the right to water and sanitation for all Kenyans is enshrined in Article 43 of the Constitution.
The toilet to person ratio in low income settlements is heart wrenching. Some 10,000 residents of Muoroto slum in Mombasa share one toilet, 50 residents to 1 toilet in some areas in Kibera, while in some parts of Dandora, the toilet to person ratio is 1:100. In addition, anyone who needs to use the toilet needs to pay Sh10 per visit. Imagine with me, a girl on her period, who needs to use the toilet several times during the day and night, who will need some water to wash her hands thereafter and also to bathe? An absolute nightmare!
This was the reality for many before Covid-19, and the pandemic will only exacerbate inacess to water, sanitation and hygienic menstrual products. As we grapple with uncertain economic realities in coming weeks, the brunt of it will be disproportionately felt by girls and women in low-income areas.
A few days ago, the globe observed World water day. The irony wasn’t lost on me as we coalesced around something so basic yet scarce for many-water!
The government has dilly- dallied on a plausible MHM policy (MHM policy was finally signed ,now awaiting launch),has made slow and fragmented strides towards addressing #PeriodPovery and #PeriodShame. Yet on any given day, more than 800 million girls and women between the ages of 15 and 49 are menstruating. Even as we practice social distancing, a woman within your proximity is menstruating!
If the phrase 'The true measure of a society is in how it treats its most vulnerable' bears even an iota of truth, we have failed. Covid 19 will only serve as a glaring reminder of the gaps in menstrual health management interventions and the urgent need to turn these around to ensure dignity for every girl as they menstruate.
