Condoms should be sold, Sanitary pads should be given for free

Ever since I can remember, menstruation has been a topic that has not been a subject of discussion that people have had in public. It has not been one of the breakfast, lunch or dinner discussions.
Not even have I heard a husband asking a wife ‘how is your period today?’

Menstruation has been and still is an issue that has been discussed in private mostly by females. Fathers might be involved at some point, but this rarely happens.

Males and females’ communication concerning menstruation have been through symbolism, gestures and simply guess work. A male has to read the signs and break through the jigsaw puzzle to know that a woman is going through her menstruation.

Lately, the menstruation silence code has been broken, and it is now a topic of discussion in public. Not that everyone is comfortable talking about it, or sees the relevance in having a conversation about menstruation but the discussion seems to be going on.

This has mainly been attributed to the fact women, and girls drop out of school due to periods. According to the 2014 UNESCO, Puberty Education, and Menstrual Hygiene Management report, one in ten girls in Sub-Saharan Africa misses school during their menstrual cycle. Similar studies by the World Bank Group have estimated that a girl loses twenty percent of a given school year due to their menstrual cycle due to Sanitation facilities and infrastructure, and Cultural beliefs around menstruation.

Menstruation is not only a problem with girls in Schools but also women and girls in prisons. After doing a prison monitoring exercise with the Malawi Human Rights Commission(MHRC) in 2015, one thing that came out clear was that women and girls in the prisons ,that were part of the monitoring exercise in all the three regions, did not have access to sanitary pads. The facilities in prisons were also found not to friendly to women and girls.

‘During menstruation we improvise! We use Chitenje mostly, or whatever we can use at that time’-Said one of the prisoners

These problems have made people call for the improvement of Sanitation facilities and infrastructure, especially in public places. They have also been calls for addressing myths and misconceptions around menstruation. Recently the calls have been for free sanitary pads in public facilities like schools, prisons, and shelters.

It remains unclear on whether the free pads have to be for everyone, or they apply to the people that cannot afford to access pads due to financial problems.

In the midst of a solid campaign for free sanitary pads, another movement calling for the government to replace free condoms with free pads seems to be gaining ground.

‘’Condoms should be sold, Sanitary pads should be given for free. Sex is a choice; menstruation is not.’

This sounds rather catchy, but makes me ask, why do we have free condom system almost globally, and in Malawi?

If memory serves me well, I remember that free condoms were introduced among things to address HIV prevalence, and teen pregnancies that also have an impact on school drop out of the same girls. Would then, the introduction of a cost on free condoms address cases of girls drop-out in schools? Condoms were also introduced to protect women and girls from catching STDs and HIV/AIDS. What happens when a cost is added to free condoms?

I believe that condoms and pads are all critical issues that need to be given their due attention due to the reasons made earlier. It is not a case of either free Pads or free condoms. It is a case of both free pads and free condoms. In fact, free condoms and free pads are complementary for the safety and education of girls and women. Therefore, condoms should remain free, and sanitary pads should also be free.