NGO wants taxes on sanitary pads scrapped
A pack of sanitary pads which used to be sold at GHC5 last year has seen its price double and now sells at GHC10 in 2022.
A non-governmental organisation, ‘Could You’ has appealed to the government to scrap taxes on sanitary pads.
The government currently charges about 33% in a luxury tax and VAT on sanitary pads.
But the NGO observed the situation is denying girls in rural areas the use of sanitary pads due to the hike in prices of the product.
A pack of sanitary pads which used to be sold at GHC5 last year is now going for GHC10 in 2022.
A teacher at Asisiriwa D/A JHS, Mary Akayini said, “some girls in the area sleep with men in exchange for money to buy pads. They do this because of the high price of the pad”.
As part of activities to mark this year’s World Menstrual Hygiene Day, ‘Could You’, distributed 150 menstrual cups to some pupils in the Bosome Freho district.
Menstrual cups, unlike sanitary pads, are reusable and will help girls save money.
Nsiah Princess is one of the beneficiaries of the menstrual cups donated by Could You two months ago.
“Now I don’t buy sanitary pads again because of the menstrual cup and I have been able to save a little money as well,” she noted.
”Could You” wants government to scrap taxes on sanitary pads to make it affordable to teenagers in rural areas.
“We have been working with the girls in this community for over a year and one problem we have identified is they lack access to menstrual hygiene products and menstrual awareness,” Kofi Kyeremateng Nyanteng, Country Director of Could You, said.
“We’re working with girls in rural communities to address menstrual poverty through our menstrual cups and education initiative. We want the government to scrap off taxes so that girls in the rural areas can afford it”.
Anna Sefakor Afua Dotse, the project nurse, educated girls on the need to use menstrual cups, she added, “the cup can last for 10 years as compared to the pad”.
Asaase Radio 99.5 – tune in or log on to broadcasts online
99.5 in Accra, 101.5 in Bawku, 99.9 in Bimbilla, 100.3 in Cape Coast, 90.7 in Ho, 98.5 in Kumasi, 99.7 in Tamale, 89.5 in Tarkwa and 106.9 in Walewale
Join the conversation. Call: 020 000 9951 or 059 415 7777. Or WhatsApp: 020 000 0995.
#AsaaseRadio
#TheVoiceofOurLand
