Elgeyo Marakwet County reproductive health coordinator, Jonathan Tanui, has decried the stigma attached to male involvement in matters related to do with reproductive health.
Tanui said there is a common belief in the county that matters to do with menstruation are female matters, with men being required to have nothing to do with it.
This, according to Tanui, has led to men who control financial resources failing to buy sanitary towels for their daughters, which is in turn affecting their education as well as their future.
Addressing the press in Iten, the coordinator regretted that girls are often forced to miss classes when they are having their menses since they do not have sanitary towels thus affecting their education.
The coordinator also attributed the high cases of teenage pregnancy in the county to girls being taken advantage of by men like the boda boda riders, who often give them money to buy the sanitary towels in exchange for sexual favours.
He said that while the office of the women’s rep has been providing sanitary towels to girls in junior secondary schools, this is not enough to appeal for more sponsors to target senior secondary schools, who also require the same.
He is therefore appealing to men in the county to support the women in their lives in matters to do with menstrual hygiene by providing the sanitary towels and discarding the societal norms that say buying of sanitary towels by men is normal.
“Buying of sanitary towels by a man is just the same as buying any other product either in shops or supermarkets,” he said.
Tanui also called on men to walk with their wives during their pregnancy, saying some women fail to seek medical services that they require while pregnant because they don’t have money yet their men are not willing to support them.
He said the Department of Health will continue sensitising men on their role in reproductive health to fight the taboos associated with it in the community.
By Alice Wanjiru
