Providing A Remedy for Menstruation Challenges in Rural Communities (ACFellows Cohort 1 Team, Cameroon).

The ACLeads event planning began online (WhatsApp group for ACFellows Cameroonian, Cohort 1, 2018) with active participation and contributions from the entire team. However, due to the political instability presently going on our country and based on the fact that we the Cameroonian fellows are randomly distributed all over the national territory, it was a little challenging for us to organize a face to face meeting with all members present. A couple of us actually succeeded to meet face to face to discuss about the event. This notwithstanding, after long deliberations and contribution from the entire team, we came to an agreement to work on the production of reusable and environmentally friendly sanitary pads to assist young girls and women living in our rural communities and facing financial difficulties (challenges) handling their monthly periods (most especially purchase of sanitary pad on a monthly basis).

The main idea behind this project was to sensitize a good number of young girls and women (about a hundred) in our respective local communities on menstruation as a whole and to allow them express the major challenges encountered during their monthly periods. Many of them affirmed having financial challenges regarding the purchase of sanitary pad on a monthly basis. Moreover, in addition to the high birth rates in most of our African communities, certain parents find themselves having to provide sanitary pad for four or even more of their adolescent daughters making the financial load too heavy for them to bear. ACFellows Cameroonian therefore agreed to teach these girls practically how to manufacture these cheap but safe (reduced chances of vaginal infection) and descent reusable sanitary pads which they can use for as long as they please, provided the pads are properly handle both in terms of hygiene and utilization.

Since coming together to carry-out the activity as a team was somehow challenging for us (due to the sociopolitical instability affecting our country) we agreed to impact (sensitize) our respective communities individually on the subject matter and write-up collective report.