The BBC wrote this recently –

“Women on the minimum wage in Ghana have to spend one in every seven dollars they earn on sanitary pads.

We compared the minimum wage to the local cost of the cheapest sanitary pads and found they were beyond the reach of many women. While Ghana was the country with the least affordable menstrual products of those we surveyed.”

Sanitary pads did cost 4.88. Ghanaian cedis (35p) per pack. However, after the government increased taxes on sanitary products, a packet of pads now costs five times as much, pushing them out of the reach of many women.

That works out at more than £1.00 per pack which is a great deal of money for families on very low incomes. Some girls stay away from school during their period, and others use toilet paper. This is shocking.

The Serving Africa Mission is planning to give free sanitary products to the girls and teachers in the school on our base using our medical centre nurse.

Can you help us? We are aiming to raise £1000.00 initially, and this will help us support the women and teachers on our base for one year. It’s a small beginning, and our hope is that other schools will follow our example.