• Chikankanta DEBS calls for consented efforts to end Period poverty
• Awanachi donates reusable pads and panties to 1, 000 girls
• Campaign targets to reach 20, 000 women and girls across Zambia

Chikankanta District Education Board Secretary (DEBS) has called for consented efforts towards ending period poverty among school going female pupils in the district.

Speaking during the donation of pads and panties by Awanachi Magazine to 1,000 school girls in the district, Lweendo Nyoni stated that the donation of the reusable pads and panties will go a long way in helping eradicate period poverty among the school going pupils in the district.

Mrs Nyoni said some school girls sometimes miss classes due to lack of sanitary products because most of them come from low income earning households.

Mrs Nyoni said the donation of the sanitary products resonates well with the Government’s free education policy as it will enable the girls easily access education which in return will lead to national development through an educated citizenry.

“One of the factors that inhibit girls welfare while at school especially in rural areas such as Chikankanta district is lack of access to means of menstrual hygiene management due to financial constraints, suddenly, as a result of poverty in many households,” said Mrs Nyoni.

And Awanachi Magazine founder Mpunga Chipepo Simukwai said education is a fundamental right and as such the donation of the 1000 reusable pads and panties will easy access to education for the girl child in the district.

Mrs Simukwai disclosed that the Awanachi Pads and Panties campaign targets to reach 20,000 girls by 2030 across the country.

“As Awanachi we joined the fight against period poverty by launching what we are calling the Pads and Panties campaign. This is a campaign which will be ongoing,” Mrs. Simukwai revealed.

“Our goal as Awanachi is that by 2030 we should be able to reach 20 000 girls across Zambia, so Chikankanta is only a start with 1000 girls.”

The 1000 reusable pads and panties were donated to three schools, namely Upper Kaleya Primary School, Chikankanta Day and Chikankanta Secondary School.

Awanachi Magazine through the Pads and Panties Campaign has partnered with institution such as FNB Zambia, Zanaco, Vedanta, Money FM Zambia and Diamond TV. Others are One Love Radio, DOD Media, Accurate Branding and a number of individual.