Expert Warns Against Using Toilet Roll, Clothes During Menstrual Period

Dr Margaret Erhunmwunsee, the President of the Association of Residents Doctors, University of Uyo Teaching Hospital Branch, has warned women, especially young girls, against using pieces of cloth and tissue paper during menstrual periods.

She said such items can cause infections, which may lead to infertility in the long run.

She gave the warning at the Comprehensive Secondary School Atai Otoro, in the Abak Local Government, Akwa Ibom State, when she led the leadership of the Association to commemorate World Menstrual Hygiene Day with the theme, ‘Making Menstruation a Normal Fact of Life by 2030′.

“Some of you have been made to believe that menstruation and menstrual pains are not something that is inherited, that when you take tablets, you will continue to take drugs for life, and that when you talk to a boy, you will get pregnant.

“All these myths are not true", she said while addressing the students.

The ARD president, who donated 200 menstrual pads to the school, said the students are privileged to have the association come to educate them on matters relating to menstrual hygiene.

Also speaking, Dr Ekemini Udi, the coordinator of the WMHD, explained that the aim of the visit is to educate the students on safe menstrual practices and also to reduce period poverty, which occurs when a girl cannot afford menstrual products.

In her remarks, the principal of the school, Pauline Akpanubo, welcomed the team to her school and formally introduced them to the students.

The supervisory counsellor of health, Abak Local Government Area, Honourable Eventus Uko, lauded the team for choosing a school in the community and urged the students to abide by personal hygiene and proper practices as taught by the doctors.