Kejo Emmanuel Mikaya, a Social Behavior Change Specialist at Afia WASH (from right), and Celine Samuel Kiden, the project's Technical Lead and Advisor for Social Behavior Changes (center) speak to Eye Radio. June 5, 2023. | Photo: Awan Moses

Social behavior change experts are calling for the inclusion of menstrual hygiene management as a topic into the country’s school curriculum.

The team say this engage the society especially boys in discussing menstruation as a norm aspect of reproduction.

Kejo Emmanuel Mikaya, a Social Behavior Change Specialist at Afia WASH project of DT Global – pointed out that teaching young boys and men about the importance of menstruation is a key aspect in reducing stigmatization related to menstruation.

“Menstruation plays a key aspect in reproduction. For us to make sure that it is look at it as normal, we need to engage all men including the boys,” he said on Eye Radio’s Dawn show on Monday.

Mikaya further emphasized on the need for schools to do frequent awareness and have open discussion about menstruation.

“At school, we need to do frequent awareness raising and open discussion with the school boys and girls including the teachers.”

“And we need to advocate for the menstrual hygiene to be included in the curriculum so that it becomes a normal discussion among the students.”

Speaking on the same program, Celine Samuel Kiden, Technical Lead and Advisor for Social Behavior Change at Afia WASH concurred with Mikaya’s point.

She said including menstrual hygiene in the curriculum will lead to acceptance and willingness to tackle menstrual hygiene challenges that women face in the country.

“The idea of including menstrual hygiene management into the South Sudan curriculum I accept it and it will add a lot of value into the acceptance and the uptake of menstrual hygiene challenges that women go through in this country,” Ms. Kiden said.

Research show about 61.6% of schoolgirls in South Sudan skip school for four to eight days during their menstruation periods.

It is also reported that approximately 500 million women and girls worldwide lack access to sufficient information, sanitary products, and facilities to effectively manage their periods.

The World Menstrual Hygiene is commemorated yearly on May 28th and this year the day was marked under the theme making menstruation a normal fact of life by 2030.

Afia WASH is a USAID-funded gender-transformative project aimed at expanding sustainable access to basic safe drinking water, and basic sanitation coverage, and increasing the uptake of key hygiene behaviors to improve health and household resilience.

Through Social and Behavioral Change Activities, the project aims to address social norms, traditional taboos, and stigma, shifts social norms, and increase affordability and access to products or latrines that can improve gender equality and menstruation experiences.