At least 81,859 schoolgirls across Kitui County are set to benefit from a countywide sanitary towel distribution programme targeting public schools.
The initiative, being undertaken through the Office of the Women Representative, Kitui County, under the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), covers 1,472 public schools across the county.
According to information displayed on a distribution lorry, each beneficiary will receive six packets of sanitary towels, translating to 491,154 packets in total.
The sanitary towel distribution comes barely a month after the launch of a countywide football tournament, a four-month sporting initiative bringing together young people from different parts of Kitui.
The tournament is among a series of programmes being rolled out alongside initiatives targeting other groups in the county, including the distribution of water tanks and support for youth and women’s groups.
The programmes span education, sports, water access and economic empowerment, with beneficiaries drawn from different communities and age groups across the county.
The sanitary towel programme, in particular, seeks to address menstrual hygiene challenges affecting school-going girls and support their continued participation in education.
The initiative is being implemented under the theme “Empowering Students Through Education,” with the distribution expected to reach thousands of learners in public schools across Kitui.
The latest interventions add to a series of countywide activities focusing on young people, women, education and access to basic resources.