Dignity!Period.

"The economic crisis in Zimbabwe dictates that ordinary women are unable to afford basic sanitary protection.

With inflation topping 1000%, a pack of sanitary pads costs £6. Currently the average monthly wage stands at £12 with a startling 80% of the population unemployed. Faced with such economic adversity, manufacturers of sanitary products have fled Zimbabwe, compounding the shortages.

As a consequence, millions of Zimbabwean women are forced to replace tampons with newspapers and dirty rags, a practice which has led to vaginal infections for which there is no available medication. Moreover, these medical infections are often falsely attributed to sexually transmitted infections leading to social embarrassment and domestic violence.

Quite apart from the serious health issues, the lack of sanitary products has far reaching implications. Families suffer from increased poverty as mothers and wives are unable to work when they have their periods. This means that they are unable to buy food and clothes or finance their children’s education. In addition girls are forced to take time off school, further jeopardising their education.

Millions of women and girls across Zimbabwe face unnecessary suffering and hardship, ACTSA campaigns to ensure that these women are afforded their most basic human rights.

ACTSA was able to gain the support of South African radio station 5FM, who by means of a listener drive raised a phenomenal 1 million donated products for the campaign. These products were loaded onto trucks with the intention of crossing the boarder into Zimbabwe for distribution to those women in greatest need. Disappointingly, the Zimbabwean government reneged on its original promise to waive import duties, delaying delivery of the products considerably and ultimately forcing ACTSA to pay duties of US$23,000.

To avoid this issue in the future ACTSA has established a partnership with the one existing manufacturer in Harare. Now products can be distributed without import cost whilst helping industry and local people. ACTA has recently purchased 40,000 sanitary products that have been distributed through the ZCTU to the most vulnerable women in Zimbabwe.

As the crisis continues ACTSA stands by its commitment to reclaim the dignity of those Zimbabwean women who are suffering physically and emotionally. To achieve this it is vital that ACTSA continues to generate awareness and raise funds to supply more sanitary products to these women."

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