CEO of Eco-me Africa Amdiya Abdul-Latiff has revealed that some young girls in rural areas are being forced to have sex with men in order to get money for sanitary pads.
According to her, many of the girls are from deprived homes and are unable to afford decent sanitary towels for the monthly menstrual cycle.
Speaking with Prime Morning host, Asieduwaa Akumia, on Monday, Mrs Amadiya Abdul-Latiff indicated the ordeals the teenagers go through to obtain common sanitary pads.
“They were resulting in unhygienic means like using socks – which are very popular by the way, newspapers, dirty rags, and then dried leaves. They are easily available in the rural communities, so anything at all that can absorb and hold blood, that’s what they use,” Mrs Abdul-Latiff said.
The Eco-me Africa CEO further said that she was posted to a school in a rural community as a pupil’s teacher.
It was there that she witnessed the difficulties that girls in primary schools are forced to face.
This situation, she said, accounts for girls dropping out of school.
Those who remained in school resorted to unorthodox materials in place of sanitary towels. The majority of these are exposed to infections.
According to her, some girls are even pushed to the extent of sleeping with men in exchange for pads.
She said, “Some of them too had no option but were pushed to exchange sex for pads. It is a common trade in the poorest areas of Ghana, where young girls are pushed to sleep with men, mostly older men, just so they can have money to purchase a sanitary pad.”
Madam Abdul-Latiff also mentioned that this plight can result in teenage pregnancies, thus leading girls to drop out of school.
She also added that there has been new research that states that in Ghana, many girls sometimes miss school when menstruating.
Eco-me Africa CEO fears the phenomenon if not checked will affect the health and education of these young girls.
