Unsafe sanitation services means serious trouble for women in Africa’s slums.
It's that time of the month.
Across Africa millions of adolescent girls are forced to use old clothes, rags, newspapers, leaves, bark and grass because they cannot afford sanitary towels.
The result, according to UNICEF, is that 1 in every 10 schoolgirls in Africa miss classes or drop out of school completely.
In Nairobi, menstruating women have to hide their dirty sanitary towels, throwing them on top of shacks or in the road. There is nowhere to dispose of them inside the house. Family members will complain about the smell.
Women are made to feel ashamed of this natural, monthly occurrence, and are forced to dispose of sanitary towels in a manner that leaves the settlement dirty, and its inhabitants at greater risk of disease.
It is the same story when a woman gives birth. There is nowhere to dispose of the afterbirth, so it is kept in a tin can in the house. Doris Museti, a resident of Mukuru - one of Nairobi's largest slums says, “The container will remain in the house until very late in the evening. What is she to do with it? She will have to wait until very late to dispose of it, maybe mix it with dirty water and then throw it out…. Nowadays, blood carries everything...."
"We have just been surviving.”
Education about menstruation and gender-sensitive sanitation facilities can help keep girls in school, prevent infections and disease, and change their futures.
The solution: holistic menstrual hygiene management.
Access to clean material to absorb or collect menstrual blood;
Privacy for changing materials and for bathing with soap and water;
Clean water, soap, and privacy for washing stains from clothes and reusable menstrual materials and;
Access to hygienic disposal facilities for used menstrual materials.
When SDI’s women-led federations of the urban poor build sanitation facilities, women are involved from the word go.
They say where the toilets go (somewhere safe, to prevent violent attacks) and they say what should be included (a completely private female only area for toilets, showers, hand washing, and laundry). They usually include space for community meetings (or women’s health clinics) and starting now they will serve as distribution centres for sanitary materials made by urban poor women themselves.
On top of this, SDI sanitation units are affordable. Families pay a monthly service fee, rather than a pay-per-use system which quickly becomes far too expensive – especially for women and children.