US Multinational Corporation Supports Adolescent Girls in Nigeria

    Michael Olugbode in Abuja

    A United States Multinational Corporation, Kimberly-Clark, would for the next six months support over 6,000 adolescent girls between 10 and 19 years old in Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Edo, Kano, Lagos, Niger, and Taraba States with sanitary pads.

    A statement issued yesterday said the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has rolled out the distribution of 40,000 Kotex sanitary pads donated by US multinational corporation, Kimberly-Clark, to improve the menstrual hygiene and wellbeing of young girls in Nigeria.

    According to the statement, this initiative will reach more than 6,000 adolescent girls between 10 and 19 in Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Cross Rivers, Edo, Kano, Lagos, Niger, and Taraba States.

    The statement said young women and girls in Nigeria face different challenges managing their menstruation across varying socio-cultural, economic, and environmental contexts. These challenges include inadequate knowledge about proper menstruation management and lack of access to good menstrual hygiene management materials, which have far-reaching consequences.

    The USAID Deputy Office Director for Health, Mieko McKay, said at the handover ceremony in Lagos that: “The lack of access to hygiene resources has a serious impact on school attendance.

      “This collaboration is a great example of how USAID engages with the private sector to improve the well-being, reproductive health, and school attendance of adolescent girls.”

    Kimberly-Clark’s Government Relations Manager, Nigeria and East Africa, Zainab Obagun, also said: “We strongly believe in investments that go beyond monetary endowments to create sustainable programmes that demystify stigmas that affect the girl child.

     “This donation will empower more than 6,000 adolescent girls to benefit from USAID’s health interventions across Nigeria.”