Entry Instance

HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept

{
    "id": 1274757,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1274757/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 201,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Miraj",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Sir. I rise under Standing Order No.52 (1) to make a Statement on a matter of general topical concern, namely, the indignity and challenges suffered by women and young girls during menstruation. Kenya is composed of different ethnicities with some having deeply rooted cultures. In some of these ethnicities, menstruation is too shameful and embarrassing a topic to be discussed openly. As a result, menstruating girls lack enough information about their bodies and adolescent boys tease and stigmatise menstruating girls for failure to understand that menstruation is a normal biological process. There is a huge proportion of adolescents and women who are unable to access information, safe materials and other facilities for proper menstrual hygiene management. Formative research indicates that 65 per cent of women and girls in Kenya are still unable to afford or access sanitary pads. In addition, there have been appalling reports of girls exchanging sex for money to buy sanitary pads, and that two out of the three pad users in rural Kenya borrow money from sexual partners. This not only compounds the problem, but also increases the risk of early age pregnancy and getting infected with Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, no woman or girl deserves the indignity of reverting to using dry cow dung, leaves, newspaper, used socks, old mattresses cuttings, or rags to catch her menstrual flow. These crude materials are not only ineffective, but also unhygienic and uncomfortable. In most parts of Kenya, school-going girls of menstrual age are either forced to this humiliation or be absent from school. For the brave girls who want to remain in school and build a bright future, a large number of them confess to facing the stigma that comes from unhygienic menstrual hygiene."
}