By providing poor and marginalized girls sanitary towels, undergarments and hygiene education we are seeing academic performance of girls going higher which means the a better life. The project also educates young women on HIV/Aids transmission and prevention aiming at reduction of HIV prevalence which is almost 3 times higher on women than men in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Problem

According to UNICEF 2007 report, A girl who is absent from school for 4 days every month loses 13 learning days which is equivalent to 2 weeks of learning in every school term. A girl in primary school between grades 6 and 8 (3 years) loses approximately 18 weeks out of 108 school weeks. • A girl in high school (4 years) loses 156 learning days which is equivalent to almost 24 weeks out of 144 weeks of school. This is a clear indication that a girl child is a school drop-out while still in school. In some urban slums girls are known to dig through garbage dumps looking for used sanitary towels which they wash and reuse. We have knowledge in some rural areas within Kiambu County where girls are known to use leaves, dirty rags etc. Some girls share their sanitary towels (usually scrap cloth) with their mothers. All of these practices exposes them to diseases, discomfort, loss of dignity. FOHYIG have been actively responding to this need by soliciting donations from well wishers and supply the needy girls with sanitary towels and under pants. The project also educate young women on HIV/Aids transmission and prevention aiming at reduction of HIV prevalence which is almost 3 times higher on women than men in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Solution

The program will strive to ensure needy girls remain in school during their menses therefore providing them with sanitary towels and undergarments and hygiene education. UNAIDS have estimated that around three quarters of all women with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa yet there scantly are exclusive women target measures to reverse this, many project here conduct an all inclusive HIV/Aids education some of which is irrelevant to women’s vulnerability. This project will exclusively target sexually active women in active HIV/Aids education prevention and transmission. The project will employ use of men in reaching out to other men urging them to support measures that reduce women’s HIV/Aids vulnerability.

Example

-Providing Sanitary towels & undergarments to poor women -Conducting Hygiene education and awareness on personal diagnosis checks for breast cancer and genital disorders. -Conducting HIV/Aids awareness capitalizing on prevention and transmission to women.

Marketplace

Kiambu District is one of the seven districts in Central Province. The district covers an area of 1,323.9 sq Km² and is the smallest district in Central Province. It borders Nairobi City and Kajiado District to the south, Nakuru District to the west, Nyandarua District to the northwest and Thika to the east. The district lies between latitudes 0°75′ and 1° 20′ south of Equator and longitudes 36° 54′ and 36° 85′ east. It has a population of 744,010. The larger Kiambu County has 1.6m people. Kiambu County populous live below one dollar. Poverty levels are extremely high contributed by lack of land, extended families share small potions of land because of dense population; this leaves many without farming lands. The proximity of Kiambu to Nairobi city makes migration of commercial sex workers a norm which only promotes the HIV/Aids spread. HIV/Aids prevalence stands at 8% higher than national prevalence which is 6.3%. The socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDs in the district include the highs school drop out rates, female and children headed families, loss of manpower and high mortality and morbidity rates, orphans etc. Lack of economic empowerment, education and information has made number of women in leadership and elective positions very low.