{"id":2487,"date":"2023-05-27T22:37:03","date_gmt":"2023-05-27T20:37:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/?p=2487"},"modified":"2025-04-04T14:09:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T12:09:16","slug":"effects-of-improving-menstrual-hygiene-and-health-in-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/effects-of-improving-menstrual-hygiene-and-health-in-schools\/","title":{"rendered":"Effets de l'am\u00e9lioration de l'hygi\u00e8ne et de la sant\u00e9 menstruelles dans les \u00e9coles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(version fran\u00e7ais ci-dessous)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Swiss Church Aid (HEKS\/EPER)
Picture credits: Swiss Church Aid (HEKS\/EPER)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a national baseline report of UNICEF in the year 2017[1]<\/a>, 20-50% of female students in Ethiopia tend to be absent from school during their menstruation, i.e. one to five days each month. One of the reasons is that access to sanitary napkins is scarce and families cannot afford to buy sanitary pads. As a result, most girls of menstrual age use unclean pieces of cloth which expose them to serious health risks. In Ethiopian society menstruation is considered a high taboo, therefore, people rarely discuss the topic and menstrual education in schools is uncommon. The teasing by students is another common reason for menstruating girls to stay at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To improve the menstrual hygiene and health of girl students in schools and beyond, Swiss Church Aid (HEKS\/EPER) together with Dorcas provided menstrual hygiene awareness to students and teachers, as part of the Blue Schools approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Musa Gabi 16 years old student at Wollensu school<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One of the students is Musa Gabi, who is an 8th<\/sup> grade student (16 years old) living in Kofele woreda, Oromia region in Ethiopia. He and his sister attend the same school, Wollensu school. Before the Blue Schools project, he had no awareness of menstrual hygiene. When attending school, he noticed a blood stain on his sister\u2019s skirt, and he said that \u2018the first thing that came to my mind was she had a sexual relation and was pregnant\u2019. He remembered that his father was very angry when Musa told him about the blood stain. His father said that he regretted sending his daughter to school and tried to beat her. His mother intervened by explaining them about menstruation, but his father was not much convinced. Musa remembered how scared and helpless his sister was; she even wanted to drop out of school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Blue Schools project provided awareness on menstruation to all students (boys and girls). After the awareness, Musa started to regret his actions and manners towards his sister and other female students in the school. \u201cI feel ashamed of myself to this date\u201d. He used to tease and shame girls during their menstruation, as he assumed that those girls had sexual relations or were pregnant, which is considered a shame to the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, he has become a member of the school Gender and Menstrual Hygiene Health Club. The club is raising the awareness of students and parents on menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) by organising drama and community outreach sessions. Due to increased awareness, girls are no longer teased during menstruation and boys are supporting them to safely manage their menstruation. The efforts of both male and female students succeeded in changing the name from the malicious local name of menstruation \u201cMonthly dirt\u201d to \u201cMonthly flower\u201d, which entails a huge change in attitude. The project facilitated\/created a space for boys and girls to discuss together the issues of MHH; these conversations limited bullying and broke taboos in family settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project also supported the target schools in the construction of basic MHH rooms, where girls have a safe space to rest during their menstruation. The construction of MHH rooms was a joint effort by the community (providing labour and local materials), the school administration (providing carpentry and masonry) and Swiss Church Aid (HEKS\/EPER) and Dorcas (providing industrial materials, such as cement and corrugated iron sheets).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Menstrual pad making training<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As part of improving the MHH for students, Swiss Church Aid (HEKS\/EPER) improved access to menstrual pads by training unemployed women on the production of reusable menstrual pads. For the training, Swiss Church Aid (HEKS\/EPER) partnered with Mela for Her<\/a>, a social startup enterprise that aims to transform women’s and girls\u2019 lives across Ethiopia by providing access to affordable and eco-friendly menstrual products, menstrual health education, and job opportunities. Now, girls in schools have better access to menstrual health and hygiene and can continue their education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Effets de l’am\u00e9lioration de l’hygi\u00e8ne et de la sant\u00e9 menstruelles dans les \u00e9coles<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Auteur<\/em>: Swiss Church Aid (HEKS\/EPER)
Cr\u00e9dit photo<\/em>: Swiss Church Aid (HEKS\/EPER)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Selon un rapport national de l’UNICEF[1]<\/a> publi\u00e9 en 2017, 20 \u00e0 50 % des \u00e9l\u00e8ves \u00e9thiopiennes ont tendance \u00e0 s’absenter de l’\u00e9cole pendant leurs menstruations, c’est-\u00e0-dire un \u00e0 cinq jours par mois. L\u2019un des raisons est que l’acc\u00e8s aux serviettes hygi\u00e9niques est rare et que les familles n’ont pas les moyens d’acheter des serviettes hygi\u00e9niques. Par cons\u00e9quent, la plupart des filles en \u00e2ge d’avoir leurs r\u00e8gles utilisent des v\u00eatements souill\u00e9s qui les exposent \u00e0 de graves risques sanitaires. Dans la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9thiopienne, la menstruation est consid\u00e9r\u00e9e comme un grand tabou. Par cons\u00e9quent, les gens discutent rarement du sujet et l’\u00e9ducation menstruelle dans les \u00e9coles est rare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afin d’am\u00e9liorer l’hygi\u00e8ne menstruelle et la sant\u00e9 des jeunes filles dans les \u00e9coles et au-del\u00e0, l’EPER et Dorcas ont sensibilis\u00e9 les \u00e9l\u00e8ves et les enseignants \u00e0 l’hygi\u00e8ne menstruelle, dans le cadre de l’approche \u00c9cole Bleue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Musa Gabi, 16 ans, \u00e9l\u00e8ve \u00e0 l’\u00e9cole Wollensu<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

L’un de ces \u00e9l\u00e8ves, Musa Gabi, est un \u00e9l\u00e8ve de 8th<\/sup> (16 ans) qui vit \u00e0 Kofele Woreda, dans la r\u00e9gion d’Oromia, en \u00c9thiopie. Sa s\u0153ur et lui fr\u00e9quentent la m\u00eame \u00e9cole, l’\u00e9cole Wollensu. Avant le projet \u00c9coles Bleues, il n’avait aucune connaissance de l’hygi\u00e8ne menstruelle. \u00c0 l’\u00e9cole, il a remarqu\u00e9 une tache de sang sur la jupe de sa s\u0153ur et a d\u00e9clar\u00e9 que “la premi\u00e8re chose qui m’est venue \u00e0 l’esprit, c’est qu’elle avait eu un rapport sexuel et qu’elle \u00e9tait enceinte”. Il se souvient que son p\u00e8re \u00e9tait tr\u00e8s en col\u00e8re lorsqu’il lui a parl\u00e9 de la tache de sang. Son p\u00e8re a dit qu’il regrettait d’avoir envoy\u00e9 sa fille \u00e0 l’\u00e9cole et qu’il avait essay\u00e9 de l’attaquer physiquement. Sa m\u00e8re est intervenue en leur expliquant ce qu’\u00e9tait la menstruation, mais son p\u00e8re n’a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 tr\u00e8s convaincu. Il se souvient de la peur et de l’impuissance de sa s\u0153ur, qui voulait m\u00eame abandonner l’\u00e9cole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le projet des \u00c9coles Bleues a permis de sensibiliser tous les \u00e9l\u00e8ves (gar\u00e7ons et filles) \u00e0 la menstruation. Apr\u00e8s cette sensibilisation, Musa regrette ses actions et ses mani\u00e8res envers sa s\u0153ur et les autres \u00e9tudiantes de l’\u00e9cole. \u00ab \u00c0 ce jour, j’ai honte de moi \u00bb. Il avait l’habitude de taquiner les filles et de leur faire honte pendant leurs r\u00e8gles, car il supposait que ces filles avaient eu des rapports sexuels ou \u00e9taient enceintes, ce qui est consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme une honte pour la famille.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aujourd’hui, il est devenu membre du club de l’\u00e9cole pour l’\u00e9galit\u00e9 des sexes et l’hygi\u00e8ne menstruelle. Le club sensibilise les \u00e9l\u00e8ves et les parents \u00e0 la sant\u00e9 et \u00e0 l’hygi\u00e8ne menstruelles en organisant des pi\u00e8ces de th\u00e9\u00e2tre et des s\u00e9ances de sensibilisation de la communaut\u00e9. Gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 cette sensibilisation, les filles ne sont plus taquin\u00e9es pendant leurs menstruations et les gar\u00e7ons les aident \u00e0 g\u00e9rer leurs menstruations en toute s\u00e9curit\u00e9. Le plaidoyer des \u00e9l\u00e8ves a permis de changer le nom local malveillant des menstruations, “salet\u00e9 mensuelle”, en “fleur mensuelle”, ce qui implique un \u00e9norme changement d’attitude. Le projet a facilit\u00e9\/cr\u00e9\u00e9 un espace pour que les gar\u00e7ons et les filles discutent ensemble des questions de sant\u00e9 menstruelle, ce qui a permis de limiter les brimades et de briser les tabous dans le cadre familial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Le projet a \u00e9galement soutenu les \u00e9coles cibles dans la construction de salles GHM de base, o\u00f9 les filles disposent d’un espace s\u00fbr pour se reposer pendant leurs menstruations. La construction de ces salles est le fruit d’un effort conjoint de la communaut\u00e9 (qui fournit la main-d’\u0153uvre et les mat\u00e9riaux locaux), de l’administration de l’\u00e9cole (qui a financ\u00e9 les travaux de menuiserie et de ma\u00e7onnerie), de l\u2019EPER et de Dorcas (qui a fournit les mat\u00e9riaux industriels, tels que le ciment et les plaques de t\u00f4le ondul\u00e9e).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Formation \u00e0 la fabrication de serviettes hygi\u00e9niques<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dans le cadre de l’am\u00e9lioration de la GHM pour les \u00e9l\u00e8ves, l’EPER a am\u00e9lior\u00e9 l’acc\u00e8s aux serviettes hygi\u00e9niques en formant des femmes sans emploi \u00e0 la fabrication de serviettes hygi\u00e9niques r\u00e9utilisables. Pour cette formation, l’EPER s’est associ\u00e9e \u00e0 Mela for Her<\/a>, une startup sociale qui vise \u00e0 transformer la vie des femmes et des jeunes filles en Ethiopie en leur donnant acc\u00e8s \u00e0 des produits menstruels abordables et respectueux de l’environnement, \u00e0 une \u00e9ducation \u00e0 la sant\u00e9 menstruelle et \u00e0 des opportunit\u00e9s d’emploi. D\u00e9sormais, les jeunes filles scolaris\u00e9es ont un meilleur acc\u00e8s aux serviettes hygi\u00e9niques et peuvent poursuivre leurs \u00e9tudes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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[1]<\/a> National baseline report of UNICEF, May 2017: https:\/\/www.unicef.org\/ethiopia\/reports\/menstrual-hygiene-management-ethiopia<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article de HEKS\/EPER \u00c9thiopie en anglais et en fran\u00e7ais<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2488,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"french_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,36,30,1,67,31],"class_list":["post-2487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopia","category-gender","category-hygiene-promotion","category-news","category-phase-3","category-wash-in-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2487"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2487\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3052,"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2487\/revisions\/3052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/waterconsortium.ch\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}