By Aurore Bonny
LOME, Togo (AA) - On the eve of World Menstrual Hygiene Day on May 28, several women from sub-Saharan Africa spoke to Anadolu Agency about the sanitary solutions they have created to protect women's health and empower them.
In her room, Veronique Kouoh, a Cameroonian woman in her fifties, arranges pieces of cloth that she recycles every month for her period.
"Since we were children, she has done it -- like our grandmother and our mother. I have never seen her buy disposable pads and yet I am not comfortable with this method," said her sister, Louise Kouoh.
Even though she does not use cloth, she adds pieces of cotton and toilet paper on top of her pads every month.
"It's not easy because I have to buy a lot of paper and cotton and change several times a day," she said.
The use of fabric is, according to Emilie Kyedrebeogo from Burkina Faso, an ancestral practice that she perpetuates to help young girls who miss school because they have no pads. But also in memory of her difficult childhood with painful periods.
She does this through Palobde, her ecological sanitary napkin business. Like many women on the continent, the main raw materials of her business are pure cotton, local waterproof fabric, free of chemicals and with a lifespan of almost three years.
In Burkina Faso, she employs nearly 60 women who have made it possible to manufacture more than 36,000 washable and reusable pads purchased by NGOs and women's associations. She reported that in four years she has processed nearly 15 tons of cotton, contributing to the value chain in her country and to the provision of employment for women.
After attending a training course on menstrual hygiene management, the young Togolese Elsa M'bena Mba, based in Lome, realized that industrial sanitary towels "were not at all of good quality" and decided to start manufacturing them in a way that was more respectful of women's health, she told Anadolu Agency.
According to the young consultant and gender specialist, those ecologic pads were not initially welcomed by Togolese women.
"They were afraid of the cleaning issue and hesitated because it is a local product and they are used to foreign products, yet they do not know what they are made of," she added.
- Fighting for gender equality
Beyond intimate hygiene, M'bena Ba wants to lead a real fight for gender equality through her business and awareness campaigns.
"We cannot hope and claim to achieve equality if girls and women still experience menstruation as an ordeal and in precariousness. This limits their social evolution compared to men," she said.
In Senegal, French-Senegalese social entrepreneur Marina Gning is also committed to menstrual hygiene through ApiAfrique, a company she co-founded. She was inspired by discussions with Senegalese women who spoke about the hardships they experience during their menstrual periods.
"It is a taboo for them. They don't dare to talk about it and yet they have great difficulties that they have to express by talking," she reported.
Gning said that she "favors raw materials that are respectful of nature and without health consequences". She wants "women to look forward to their periods without embarrassment or taboo."
"Having your period means understanding what is going on in your body and adapting your life to your menstrual cycle. Women are not comfortable with their periods because since childhood they are taught that it is impure. So they are afraid and yet being comfortable with your period is also a path to personal development," she explained.
For her, the use of washable pads is a better solution than disposables made of chemical materials and whose components are not disclosed.
"It is a major problem not knowing what we put on our genitals every day of our lives," said the entrepreneur.
- Environmental hazard
According to her, disposable pads also pollute the environment because they take hundreds of years to degrade.
"Africa does not have the means to manage waste properly. When these products are buried or burnt they are polluting. When they are exposed in the wild, animals eat them and human beings eat those animals. This is really problematic," she said.
Through the production of eco-friendly sanitary pads, Gning also wants to encourage women's autonomy, as she finds that buying pads every month is not at all economical.
"But buying products that last up to three years is economical and they are made by women in Senegal. So jobs are created and female independence is promoted," she concluded.
In Cameroon, Kmerpad, Olivia Mvondo's company, has already distributed more than 300,000 washable sanitary towels since 2012. This, "in rural areas, urban areas and in areas of humanitarian conflict with the support of international NGOs such as United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF)," she reported.
For her, it is important to fight against global warming by favoring ecological products. She created her company by observing the taboos and difficulties of women around menstruation.
According to the United Nations, one in ten girls in sub-Saharan Africa do not attend school during their menstrual cycle, which is estimated to be 20% of school time lost in a year.