Anambra First Lady Launches Pad Banks in 300 Schools to Boost Menstrual Hygiene
Dr. Nonye Soludo, wife of the Anambra State Governor, has called for an intensified campaign to reach more women and girls currently facing menstrual hygiene challenges in the state.
She revealed that her Healthy Living Pad Bank Initiative has been established in over 300 schools across Anambra State as part of her strategy to support schoolgirls whose academic performance could be adversely affected during menstruation and related emergencies.
The governor’s wife, who is also the founder of the Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo initiative, made the call in her message marking the 2025 World Menstrual Hygiene Day.
According to Dr. Soludo, the increasing number of women, particularly girls, who urgently need solutions to menstrual hygiene challenges necessitates a re-strategizing of stakeholder approaches to the campaign.
She cited official data estimating that approximately 37 million women and girls in Nigeria cannot afford sanitary pads and instead rely on unhygienic alternatives.
This data aligns with findings from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which highlight significant gaps in water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure barriers that prevent women and girls from managing menstruation safely and with dignity.
Dr. Soludo further noted that only two in five schools globally provide menstrual health education, and just one in three have bins for menstrual waste disposal.
These statistics, she emphasized, pose a serious challenge to key stakeholders to devise practical and sustainable solutions before these figures become irreversible.
She underscored that healthy menstrual management is a fundamental right of every girl child and stressed that menstrual-related absenteeism in schools demands collaborative measures that address the issue as a primary concern.
Highlighting her Healthy Living Pad Bank Initiative, which began in 2024 and has already been implemented in over 300 schools, Dr. Soludo described it as her proactive approach to assisting schoolgirls whose academic focus may be disrupted by menstruation and related emergencies.
She expressed a strong commitment to expanding the pad banks to more schools in Anambra State. Since hygiene is a central pillar of her Healthy Living movement, she aims to ensure that menstrual emergencies in schools are met with immediate and effective solutions, enabling girls caught unprepared to access sanitary products with confidence.
Dr. Soludo also argued that advocacy for menstrual hygiene should extend beyond annual awareness campaigns that quickly lose momentum. Instead, she insists that campaigns must adopt hands-on strategies that integrate education, awareness, and actionable solutions.
She added that every initiative must first identify existing gaps, prioritize the most vulnerable populations, and maintain consistency in strategy and implementation.
Dr. Soludo disclosed that her pad bank program is moving towards a comprehensive establishment system designed to eliminate menstrual hygiene disparities in Anambra State entirely.
Since its introduction a few months ago, the hygiene-focused Healthy Living with Nonye Soludo initiative has gained significant attention, contributing to a notable decline in related challenges.
The governor’s wife encouraged every girl child attending schools participating in the pad bank project to access the resources confidently. She assured that her NGO remains committed to replenishing any pad bank that runs out of sanitary products.
