Blood, Dignity, & Barriers: Tackling Period Poverty in Nigeria
Category: Adolescent Health | Gender Equity | Health Systems Reform
According to UNICEF, as of 2015, 6.3 million out of the 10.5 million secondary school children out of school in Nigeria are girls. This statistic can be in part because of cultural norms that prioritize boys’ education, economic challenges that limit families’ abilities to send all their children to school, and early child marriage. Yet, there is another silent root factor to this disparity - period poverty. Period poverty is the lack of access to affordable menstrual hygiene products, menstrual health education, and sanitation facilities.
Period poverty is a silent epidemic affecting many African girls. One out of 10 African girls miss school at least once a day during every menstruation cycle. A pack of 16-32 pads costs between ₦1,975 to ₦7,500 which is between $1.29 and $4.91. As of 2025, Nigerians make about $2.08 USD per day, according to Forbes Africa, which makes the purchase of pads a luxury for some Nigerian girls. Furthermore, only 75% of secondary schools in Nigeria have single sex restrooms which can further create an air of shame during the disposal of sanitary pads. Unfortunately, these infrastructure and economic failures have led to UNICEF deeming Period Poverty as a public health concern in Nigeria.
At Ziora we believe no girl should have to choose between her education and her menstrual cycle. Thus, through fieldwork, workshops, surveys, and direct engagement with adolescent girls in Lagos, our team took on the challenge of period poverty as a public systems failure rooted in infrastructure, stigma, and silence. Our first task was to truly understand the problem.
The barriers we uncovered were layered:
Access: A pack of sanitary pads costs between $1.29 and $4.91 while nearly half the population lives on less than $2.08 a day.
Facilities: Only 75% of Nigerian secondary schools have single-sex restrooms.
Stigma: Menstruation remains shrouded in misinformation and silence.
Education: Menstrual health is rarely discussed in classrooms or homes.
These gaps compound to form a silent crisis—one that keeps girls out of school, lowers self-esteem, and increases their risk of infection and shame.
Our Intervention
We led a menstrual and personal hygiene workshop on January 6,2020 in Lagos, Nigeria . Our approach was hands-on, participatory, and inclusive.
Main issues that were addressed:
Lack of menstrual health education
Inadequate resources and facilities
Dissemination of false information
The 3-Part Solution Framework:
1. Education:
Menstrual health workshops for girls and boys, to end stigma at the root.
Clear, fact-based menstrual hygiene education integrated into classroom settings.
Mercy Iroaganachi, a library information scientist at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State led the sanitary pad assembly
Dr. Nkeiruka Dara, obstetrician-gynecologist, led the discussions on menstrual health and feminine hygiene
2. Product Access:
DIY sanitary pad assembly demonstrations using reusable materials like cotton flannel, black liner cloth, and button snaps.
Distribution of menstrual health kits (pads, soap, towels, ziplocs, and instructions).
3. Data Collection & Feedback:
We surveyed young people on their current hygiene practices and asked what they needed to feel safe
Students overwhelmingly expressed a need for better products, more information, and school-level support.
What Girls Told Us
“I just need to know what’s normal. We don’t talk about it at home.”
“Reusable pads will help me save my allowance, but I didn’t know how to make them before this.”
Their responses reaffirmed what we already suspected: girls need exposure to information that can help them.
Sustainability Recommendations Moving Forward:
To address health inequity: prioritize low-income students when distributing menstrual products
To address stigma: engage boys and male teachers in menstrual health workshops
To address continuity: create post-workshop follow-up sessions within each school to maintain momentum
To address knowledge gaps: push for national-level curriculum reform to include menstrual education early and often
Why This Matters to Ziora Health
Period poverty is a public health crisis. It affects school retention, infection rates, emotional well-being, and gender equity. At Ziora Health, we see menstrual health not as a niche issue, but as an entry point to larger systems reform across education, health, and gender.
When you invest in a girl’s dignity, you invest in her mind. And when her mind is clear, her future is too.
