Keeping Kenyan Girls in School – One sanitary pad at a time!
Nairobi, June 19th 2013 — Procter & Gamble has committed aside KES 13 million (USD 150,000)
to the distribution of free sanitary pads and puberty education among the girl child in Kenya.
Through the Always Keeping Girls in School program, Procter & Gamble intends to provide over
3.2 million free sanitary pads and puberty education to empower girls to stay in school. The
program which will kick off in October 2013 will be executed by Health Education Africa
Resource Team (HEART) in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
Speaking during the relaunch of the program, Procter & Gamble’s Communication Manager sad
that the company was proud of the program successes brought about by meaningful private
public partnerships.
“We are happy to reintroduce this program so that we can keep more of our Kenyan girls in
school. We remain committed to partnering with partners such as the Ministry of Education; Girl
Child Network, HEART and UNESCO to reach more girls in our society,” said Ms. Mwathi.
Ms. Mwathi added that the program and its partners had in the past between 2006 and provided
needy school girls with over 3.2 million free Always sanitary pads and education. Research has
shown that a girl who is absent from school due to menses for four days a month loses 13
learning days, which is equivalent to two weeks in every school term.
HEART Executive Director Vickie Winkler said that the organization will work with P&G to identify
new areas of needs on the ground while working with nurses to provide the health education to
the schools.
“We hope that together with the nurses we will abolish the stigma and embarrassment that a
young girl goes through. Our interaction with the girls have shown that those who lack sanitary
pads resort to using unhygienic methods which in the end lead to high drop-out rates in the
school.
This year, the Always sanitary pad is marking its 20 years in Kenya. The brand has constantly lead
in innovation and ensured that the Kenyan consumer gets the best in technology. For instance in
2006, the brand introduced an ultra-thin pad with active gel. The following year, P&G was the
first company to bring a pad specifically for night use. The Always brand is known for its usability
and efficiency catering to the needs of today’s Kenyan woman. “P&G applies highest standard
and state of the art science to ensure the safety of our products. The premarket assessment of
feminine hygiene pads is systematic, stepwise process that involves toxicological evaluation of
raw materials. We at Always recognize that our consumers deserve the best”, adds Ms. Mwathi.
Today, the brand is the market leader with a 62 percent ahead of nearest competitor L’Oreal’s
All-Tyme which holds a seven percent according to a recent survey of consumer trends by
research firm Consumer Insight.
In staying ahead of the competition, P&G will continue to invest resources in the sanitary towel
segment and aim for profitable expansion by focusing on growing markets, increasing market
share, improving mix, localizing production, and leveraging scale.
“We hope to retain our market leadership by introducing the Always brand to young girls while
still in school. This will be done through the donation of sanitary towels and provision of puberty
education to empower girls to stay in school. We want to try to keep them in school by providing
puberty education, the product itself, access to educational resources and motivation to stay in
school,” added Ms. Mwathi.
About P&G
P&G serves approximately 4.6 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has
one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®,
Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Fairy®, Gain®, Charmin®,
Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®,
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operations in approximately 75 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the
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