By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – AS health challenges ravage Nigerians, the Rotary District Committee on Maternal and Child Health and Vina Daniel’s Foundation partner to support women and children in Nyanya, an Abuja suburb with healthcare items on menstrual health and hygiene.

Speaking during the visit and intervention at Nyanya, the Secretary, District 9127 Committee on Maternal and Child Health, Rotarian Adeleke Ayanronke, maintained that Rotary International remains committed and dedicated to ensure improved health conditions for nursing mothers and children.

She said: “We distributed essential healthcare items to support girls during their menstrual cycles, which include soaps, towels, and shaving sticks.

“We even introduced menstrual cups for those interested, offering a solution to period poverty that can last up to five years.”

Ayanronke commended the response of community members and how they embraced healthcare knowledge, therefore, urged them to apply th knowledge received.

Meanwhile, the Founder, Vina Daniels Foundation and a member of the Rotary Club, Lovina Okorn-Ntui, explained the aim of the collaboration between the two organisations, which was basically to intervene by providing critical healthcare items to nursing and expectant mothers, and generally improve health and well-being of community members.

Okorn-Ntui also expressed concern over the health condition of Abuja residents, especially those living in the suburbs, therefore, they are in dire need of medical intervention.

According to her, the initiative represents the Rotary District Committee on Maternal and Child Health’s first project in the Nyanya- Karo area from like suburbs like Bwari and Kubwa.

She said: “We believe it’s important for young girls to understand menstrual hygiene, health, and self-preparation for the future. However, without proper education, they lack the knowledge to manage these aspects of their lives.

“Many families struggle to afford sanitary pads for their children, making it vital that we provide these essentials.”

Additionally, she pointed out environmental concerns as a result of disposing plastic products that takes longer time to decompose, “Through our educational programmes, we teach participants proper hygiene practices and how to utilize sanitary pads sustainably.

“We found out that for every sanitary pad you use, one, the nylon you throw in the earth’s surface takes thousands of years before it decomposes. So this is what we do to make sure that we don’t throw a lot of plastic nylon on the earth’s surface.

“So that is why we are teaching how to make use of the pad. The participants were exposed to different hygienic practices and distribution of sanitary products”, she said.

Senior Coordinator of the Presbyterian Church of Nigeria, Mrs. Onyinijechi Nkata, expressed gratitude to the Rotary Club District 9127 for their commitment to maternal and child health.

‘It is so educative. If they take it home and they practise everything that they learnt here, it will be so wonderful because they also taught them how to make pads, sanitary pads. They taught them how to do that.

“So, they can do that for themselves and they can also do that as a survival means of empowerment. So, it is so rich. The project is so rich.

“The items will greatly benefit our community, particularly as we teach participants about sanitary pad production and hygiene practices”, she said.