The critical unavailability of sanitary products is a major barrier to education for girls of school-going age. The inability to effectively manage menstruation contributes to absences of up to 4-5 school days each month, equating to as much as 20% of the academic year intentionally skipped, simply due to menstruation. Eventually many of these girls drop out of school entirely, increasing their risk to the likelihood of early initiation to sex with associated risks of HIV, early pregnancy, teenage pregnancy with its associated maternal health complications, and further limiting their future career and economic opportunities. 

Other young women mainly from poor backgrounds suffer from virginal and urinary infections as a result of using unhygienic sanitary materials since they are unable to afford or access proper menstrual products. Many women and girls from such poor backgrounds rely on crude, improvised materials like scraps of old clothing, pieces of foam mattress, toilet paper, leaves, and banana fibers to manage their menstruation – all of which are unhygienic, ineffective, and uncomfortable. Such circumstances have continued to deprived young girls and women of their potential to exercise their right to health, education and dignity.

The “PAD A GIRL” is contributing to improved Menstrual Hygiene and Health Management (MHHM) among out of school and school going adolescent girls and young women/ mothers through sensitization and creating awareness on how to manage menstruation hygienically and with dignity. Further, this campaign is also highlighting the role of boys, men and fathers in ensuring girls enjoy menstruation with dignity by reducing the stigma and discrimination that surrounds menstruation and improving access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities within communities, primary and secondary schools in Uganda.