A resident Obstetrics Gynecologist at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Dr. Isaac Tettey Secorm has emphasised the need for all stakeholders to consider menstrual hygiene as an important public health issue since it can affect men also when they come into contact with the contaminated blood.
He posits that there are women who sell foods that are consumed without further cooking like tiger nuts, bananas, apples and other already cooked foods on the streets in traffic. Such women though may be menstruating but still have to sell in order to make ends meal. It is therefore very important for such women to be hygiene conscious otherwise it would be a big challenge to public health safety when they mishandle the blood and contaminate the food.
“Menses are quite a challenging moment in a woman’s life. Menstrual blood is not needed and has to come out but must be handled with care to prevent infection. Menstruation is a period in which a woman gets prone to a lot of infection because the blood there is really good for bad organisms to thrive in, multiply and cause harm to the woman as well as the public” Dr. Secorm explained.
“As UNICEF has been advocating, sanitary pads must be made accessible and one of the best ways to increase accessibility is to reduce cost to ensure affordability considering the number of times it needs to be changed; so I think that when the cost is reduced it would be really helpful to society as a whole. Especially for the girl who is experiencing it for the first time and the less privileged it wouldn’t be out of place to make it free” he added.
Dr. Secorm warned it is dangerous to wear one sanitary pad for very long hours since the menstrual blood is very good for bacteria to flourish. Maximum pad shouldn’t be worn beyond four hours. Thus; the more frequently you change your pad, the better.
Menstrual Sex
Dr. Secorm explained that “Basing on science and reality, some women have increased libido during their menses. There are quite a huge number of people who have high libido during their menses which means it is during this period that they can be sexually satisfied so denying these people totally of intercourse because of menstruation would be quite challenging for them”.
He explained further that for some women, menstrual intercourse helps to ease their pain. That is what is medically called dysmenorrhea which is characterized by severe and frequent menstrual cramps and pain. The intercourse causes the body to release some chemicals called endorphins.
“For some people their pain can become severe that sex becomes like an alternative therapy. It’s been found out that some women experience severe headache during menses and they get relief when they have sex”.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana
