URGENT CALL FOR ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENT TO LEGISLATE REUSABLE MENSTRUAL SANITARY TOWELS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Taxing menstrual products is like taxing a school going girl for being a girl. Maboshe Memorial Centre – MMC has been lobbying from the Zambian Government since 2012 for menstrual hygiene management policy on the distribution of free sanitary towels to school going girls who can’t afford to buy pads in all public schools mostly in rural public schools not for them to stay at home instead of going to school due to lack of menstrual hygiene management facility tools in rural public schools. Since 2019, the Zambian parliament has unanimously adopted a motion for the free distribution of sanitary towels in rural schools, although the motion is not law, it means the government must provide funds for the distribution of sanitary pads in future budgets. The motion comes after Zambian parliament scrapped taxes on sanitary products in a bid to make them more affordable. Zambia’s government has decided to provide sanitary towels to girls enrolled in rural public schools, to encourage more st