Emmanuela Dwatuka, the Chairperson of AfriYAN South Sudan speaks to Eye Radio's Zone 72 Youth Program. (-)

A Peer Educator is encouraging revenue agencies of the government to exempt taxes on menstrual products to make it affordable for women and girls.

Emmanuela Dwatuka, the Chairperson of AfriYAN South Sudan said sanitary pads are not luxury products and its taxes should be scrapped.

Ms. Dawuka said if the revenue agencies remove taxation on menstrual products, the move will enable women and girls to afford it and go about their businesses in dignity.

She also underscored that free sanitary pads will not always be there, and not all girls have access to it.

“One thing goes to the government, please! menstrual products are not luxury products, so let us accelerate efforts to remove taxes or at least scrap a little bite of percentage form these pads,” she said on Eye Radio’s Zone 72 Youth Program.

“This will enable our women and girls to be able to afford the pads because they cannot continue receiving them for free. For sustainability purpose, we should have a little bite of tax scrapped of it for everyone to afford.”

Ms. Dwatuka further called for the inclusion of the components of menstruation in the Education Curriculum.

“We have curriculums at schools but also improving it, we need to ensure that we do not only teach reproductive system because it is basically taking you through the female anatomy but we should really highlight in details the components of menstruation.”

According to UNICEF, limited access to menstrual hygiene management products and facilities in schools continues to be one of the leading concerns.

The agency says this is the leading factor for high rates of school absenteeism and dropout among adolescent girls in South Sudan, a situation that affects their learning and health.