Teens Hub Initiative Partner with Marie Stopes on Menstrual Hygiene Awareness Campaign
By Bockarie Kamara
On Friday, 27th June 2025, Teens Hub Initiative, in Collaboration with Marie Stopes, launched the menstrual hygiene awareness campaign to schools in Freetown with the theme Bringing menstrual hygiene conversations to your school.
The launch which was held at the Hill Valley Academy in Mambo Western Rural District attracted several stakeholders from all work of life that’s include teachers, parents, traders and officials from the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary school, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, the Ministry of Social Welfare and Marie Stopes Sierra Leone.
Giving a brief background and Rationale of the project, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Teens Hub Initiative, Madam Veronica Martha Fannah, said the School Annual Census report 2021 stated that between 2018 and 2021, the number of schools has increased by 13%, from 10,747 to 12,168. The number of girls is 1,336,798, and 147,696 are girls. The CEO of Teens Hub Initiative further stated that among these numbers, the Majority are in their Menstrual cycle.
Madam Fannah stressed that hundreds of girls in Sierra Leone are unaware or unprepared for their first period menarche especially those between the higher level primary and the Junior Secondary School. She went on to say that girls or women, who track their periods monthly or are familiar with the phases of menstruation they go through but the majority lack the educational aspect of Menstrual Hygiene and its Management which gives cause for girls miss school during menstruation, due to severe pain, emotional breakdown, or lack of sanitary products.
She added that out of 12,168 schools mostly, both public and Private schools lack safe space or access to affordable, hygienic sanitary products or first aid treatments, and that lack of accurate, age-appropriate information, together with deep-rooted cultural taboos, turns this biological transition into confusion, fear, shame, and emotional discomfort for girls.
Madam Veronica Martha Fannah maintained that health education sessions are mostly not well-explained, leading to poor quality information sharing.
She said their objective is to set up a system where schools can have and provide affordable and quality sanitary pads to girls within the school community which includes awareness raising about menstrual hygiene management among students and teachers.
She also wants to foster a supportive environment that encourages open dialogue about menstruation so that it can reduce absenteeism due to menstrual-related issues.
She encouraged parents to support schools on menstrual Products by allocating of cost of sanitary products to the school during School hours.
She further informed her audience that they will be engaging the school administration, Parents, and community leaders on how to cut down on the limitations in schools.
And they will be doing so through training/workshops and seminars on menstrual hygiene and tracking.
Madam Veronica Martha Fannah said that at the end of the training, they are expecting the following outcome, improved knowledge and attitudes towards menstruation,
Increased use of menstrual cycle tracking for health management, steady access to affordable and quality sanitary products, reduction in menstrual-related absenteeism and health issues, and decreased stigma surrounding menstruation, will lead to a safe school environment ready for learning and recreational activities for the girl child.
Making statements on behalf of Marie Stopes Sierra Leone, the Director of Commercial and Marketing, Marie Stopes Sierra Leone, Oluremi Folake Ayodele, thanked everyone who participated in the launch of the project.
She said that girls are not missing school because they are lazy, they are not falling behind because they lack dreams, they are being left behind because they menstruate.
She said they are laughing at the project to say clearly that it’s not just blood, it’s their future. She said that they will ensure that every girl in secondary school has access to free, safe, and dignified sanitary pads.
He also called for menstrual health education to be included in school curricula. Oluremi Folake Ayodele appeals for the empowerment of girls with knowledge and products, not with shame and silence.
On his part, Victor Fayai, Head Boy of Agape Secondary school, said that originally, girls are not open to the boys when faced with their menstruation. He said that sometimes the boys have negative thinking about menstruation and refer to them as pregnant girls.
He called on the boys to always render support to these girls when they are in their menstruation rather than shaming them, which will cause several negative impacts to those girls.
Joan Taylor, the CEO of JM Foundation, gave a brief account of her experience when she first experienced her menstrual period. She said she experienced severe pain and called on her Principal, Mr. Conteh, who gave her the necessary advice. She said since then she is not ashamed because of the pain. She was sad at that time, but Mr. Conteh told her to go home, and he called her mum and told her about her condition. She went on to say that every boy should support the girls when they are on their menstrual cycle because, as boys, they should not shame their colleagues because of their condition.
Speaking for the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary school, Ann Konneh, Deputy Director, Gender Unit at the Ministry, said that they, as a ministry, are very pleased with the project as it complements the effort of the ministry. She said that as a ministry, they are supporting women’s empowerment programs all over the country. She added that they are proud to be part of the launch as a ministry, and they will continue to work towards that goal.
The Deputy Director Gender Unit said that this initiative is the priority of the ministry and that the ministry invited the CEO of Teens Hub Initiative to a launch where UNICEF is supporting effective menstrual management. She added that they have been very slow to move or catch up with the entire world in this vein, but now that they have various organizations coming up to strengthen the campaign for children’s dignity and education, they will soon catch up with the entire world. She informed the gathering that as a ministry, they want more organizations to come on board and they encouraged communities and structured organizations to complement the effort of the ministry. She promised that as a manager of the unit, she would continue to work with structured organizations.
In her keynote address during the launch, Telacia Harding, a student, said that she was in the program not to talk about parents, but to speak about a real struggle many face silently.
Madam Harding said that many girls do not know when their period will come and when it does some of them are afraid, some don’t have anything to use, some bleed through their uniforms, some cry, stay home, or drop out, this makes their emotions play mostly limits them to concentrate in school.
But what if every school had a place, a simple, safe corner where a girl could go to find a pad, wash herself, feel clean, and continue learning? That’s what they call a pad corner, and that’s what this project is about, she added.
She went on to say that today, they are coming together to say no girl should suffer in silence stressing that no girl should miss class and no girl should feel ashamed for something natural. She further stated that they want to create pad corners in both private and public schools because parents don’t choose who is rich or poor; they come to every girl and every girl deserves support.
She Maintaining that every girl has a strong experience and her experience may be different from theirs, but they all want to feel safe, clean, and respected.
Telacia Harding continues that the campaign is bigger than just giving out pads, it is about creating a future where every girl feels ready, where she understands her body, and where she never has to hide again.
She concluded by asking everyone to support the sanitary pad project in schools, to support girls like her.The welcome address and vote of thanks were done by the Principal of Hill Valley Academy, Madam Zainab Bashir.