We must look at all options

PADS are great, but is there a more practical solution? I must begin by saying that I am impressed with all the efforts that are happening in different corners of the country to assist schoolgirls who cannot afford to get access to sanitary pads. At the forefront of this has been the KwaZulu-Natal Education Department that rolled out a programme to provide pads to schoolgirls.

There have also been efforts to make presentations to the parliamentary women’s caucus about the situation.

There are also groupings of private citizens and companies that make a concerted effort to contribute by buying, collecting and donating sanitary towels.

The good thing about all of the above is that it shows that thought and effort are going into trying to help solve the problem. Some efforts however, particularly collection drives, are impractical because what happens after the initial donation runs out?

I think there needs to be a movement towards looking at other options like menstrual cups, which can be reused, or for the national government to make more of a commitment to provide a constant supply of pads for those in need. The conversation at national government level began six years ago at Sona. I am certain that today, there should be enough groundwork done for there to be concrete actions taken by national government.