Our Reporter 

Towards mitigating the challenges of adequate menstrual management by girls and women in Nigeria, Lagos State and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have taken the lead to give correct and timely information on menstruation amid other pubertal changes to their daughters.

Speaking at the presentation of the report of the study, jointly conducted by the Lagos State Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNFPA, the Director, Family Planning & Nutrition, Lagos State Ministry of Health, Dr. Folasade Oludara, called on mothers to give their daughters the right information about menstrual health at the right time.

Dr. Oludara who spoke during a panel discussion, admonished mothers to be close to their daughters, and to expand conversation to menstrual hygeine in order to prevent other people giving them wrong information that can cause harm.

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“Majority of mothers should inform their children in good time. My advice to every r is to start giving information to their girls early, do not start when they are already in secondary school.

“I want to recommend that a mother should start talking to her daughter about menstruation from the age of seven. As long as a girl can differentiate right from wrong, the mother should begin to give information and gradually increase on it. If a girl is well empowered, she will have confidence and will be positioned to challenge contrary views,” Dr. Oludara said.

The director also said when a girl is knowledgeable and confident about her menstrual health, it reflects on the choices she makes as a young adult and promotes her bodily autonomy.

The study was conducted between December 2020 and May 2021, among girls aged 10-17 in SS1 to SS3, in 12 Lagos State-owned and public secondary schools across six LGAs.