Arafat Hasan: Girls in Kenya are being forced to engage in sex in exchange for sanitary products. It is being blamed primarily due to the prevalence of poverty and the shame, stigma and public health misinformation which surrounds menstruation.
New exclusive research by Unicef discovered that 65% of females in the Kibera slum – an area of the capital of Nairobi and the largest urban slum in Africa – had traded sex for sanitary pads.
The humanitarian charity found 10% of young adolescent girls admitted to having transactional sex for pads in western Kenya.
The research found 54% of Kenyan girls reported challenges with accessing menstrual hygiene management products and 22% of girls of school attending age indicated they bought their own sanitary products.
Speaking exclusively to The Independent, Andrew Trevett, Unicef Kenya chief of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, said the charity had found it was not uncommon for girls to be sexually abused in exchange for sanitary items.
“We have motorcycle taxis called boda bodas and the girls engage in sex with the drivers who in exchange source the sanitary pads,” he alleged. “This is happening for two reasons. One obvious reason is poverty – girls and women don’t have the financial means to buy sanitary products.”
“But there is also the issue of supply. Transactional sex for sanitary items happens because the items are not available in girl’s villages. In the countryside, girls are faced with no transport and can’t afford a bus fare. In some remote villages, there are no roads and there isn’t a bus service.”
-Source: Independent UK