NGOZI June 7th (ABP) – The province of Ngozi hosted Friday, June 3, the ceremonies marking the celebration of World Menstrual Hygiene Day, under the high patronage of the First Lady of the Republic of Burundi, Mrs. Angeline Ndayishimiye.
The ceremonies were held at the Muremera stadium in the city of Ngozi under the theme: “towards better investment in health and menstrual hygiene”.
In the speeches of the day, the various speakers returned to the importance of menstrual hygiene for young girls and women.
The representative of the United Nations system in Burundi said that menstruation is a normal biological process for girls and women. He congratulated the first lady for her commitment to menstrual hygiene, a forgotten sector and asked men to break the taboo and fully play their role.
The Minister of Public Health and the Fight against AIDS, Mrs. Sylvie Nzeyimana said that there are still girls and women who are still stigmatized because of their menstrual period. For this authority, poverty means that some girls and women do not have material for menstrual hygiene and discredit themselves to the point of hiding during menstruation.
Mrs. Angeline Ndayishimiye returned to the rundi term designating menstruation among women and girls “Ubutinyanka”. She clarified that it was another kind of stigma in the woman or the girl because the latter were strictly forbidden to approach a cow during their menstruation, because it was said, the cow could die or not give birth enough milk. Currently things have changed, the girl or the woman can prepare well and put on their sanitary napkins and milk the cows, do the framework and the roof of a house or repair a vehicle without difficulty. It is therefore time for modernity and the rules do not constitute impurities or a disease as stipulated by certain outdated traditional practices. Rather, they are signs of good health and fertility, added the first lady.
She invited teachers to encourage young girl students during their menstrual period and to give catch-up assessments that they would have missed during their period.
World Menstrual Hygiene Day is celebrated every May 8. Mrs. Ndayishimiye then visited the Good Samaritan orphanage in Buye in the commune of Mwumba belonging to the Buntu Foundation. She was welcomed by Mrs. Denise Nkurunziza who specified that this orphanage shelters more than 70 children including babies, infants and young children, noting that the older ones are in kindergarten. Mrs. Angeline Ndayishimiye gave them a donation consisting of rice, beans, milk, sugar, flour and various juices.