Sikitu Chibagi in one of the showers built at Mpalanga Primary School. Photo: WaterAid

Throughout Africa, girls are less likely than boys to be enrolled in school, and these differences are particularly large after puberty. According to a 2010 UNICEF report on water, sanitation and hygiene [external website], one in ten school-girls in Africa miss classes or drop out completely due to their period, and substitute pads or tampons for less safe and less absorbent materials such as rags or newspaper.

This is a serious problem, because better educated women have healthier and better educated children who are more likely to work productively and have more control over their lives and marriages.

So how is the Australia Africa Community Engagement Schemes (AACES) getting girls into school? WaterAid, one of the AACES partners in Tanzania are providing better sanitary infrastructure for use during menstruation under the inclusive development program. Prior to the construction of changing rooms and an incinerator at Mpalanga Primary School, girls significantly missed school during menstruation. A great number failed their studies as they would stay home one week every month during their period. Others eventually dropped out as they could not keep-up with the others.

WaterAid has constructed similar change rooms in nine other primary schools and one teacher at Mpalanga Primary school testified that attendance among previously affected girls has improved tremendously.

'Most girls used to drop out from school at around the age of 11 to 12-years-old, and missed school not simply because they feared being teased by their classmates if they showed stains from their period, but also because they were not educated about their periods as their need for safe and clean facilities was not prioritised. With the facilities we now have more girls are staying in school,' said the teacher.

In terms of establishing the large-scale infrastructure needed for sanitation, WaterAid and AACES believe that addressing the obstacles to girls' education is a monumental challenge that needs to be met, requiring substantial research, resources and attention. Although the focus here has been on school-girls, the same issues apply for women, and unless this problem continues to receive a higher profile, both girls and women will continue to be held back by something out of their control.

Australia Africa Community Engagement Scheme Annual Report 2011–12