MILLIONS of girls and women are effected every year due to not having access to appropriate sanitary towels. In some cases, younger girls miss out on school days due to not being able to afford sanitary pads.

Last year the KZN Education Department announced plans to distribute free sanitary pads to more than 1 000 institutions. At the time their goal was to reduce the drop-out rate of girl learners.

Ward councillor, Pete Graham recently facilitated the distribution of more than 11 000 pads to various settlements.

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“Some of the packs were distributed to Virginia Preparatory School by the KZN Education Department. Kim Petzer from the school kindly donated them to me which was greatly appreciated and I decided to share them with the community at Malacca Road Informal Settlement. In total I was able to distribute 1 200 pads to the settlement and in total I was able to distribute around 11 000 pads to other ward councillors in the area which is greatly needed,” he said.

Local resident, Arianne Hayes-Hill, who works closely with the Malacca Road Informal Settlement and has set-up various initiatives to better the lives of the community said the donation was welcomed.

“For the younger girls especially, this gives them dignity. Women and girls are missing school due to not having access to appropriate menstrual products and sometimes, due to a lack of access, they use products that potentially put their health at risk. This donation from the school and councillor Pete Graham is appreciated and will make a difference to the women of the settlement,” she said.

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