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Birao: A push for girls’ reproductive health by the Zambian contingent

MARIA KABATANYA

To mark Menstrual Health Week (6-12 June 2021), the Female Engagement Team of the MINUSCA Zambian contingent (ZAMBATT) and the Mission’s gender unit came together to champion girls’ reproductive health rights at the Lycée Moderne in Birao (Vakaga prefecture), in the north of the Central African Republic.

Reproductive health rights are increasingly being globally recognized as crucial to the wider well-being in society – their impact of education can especially not be underestimated.

The joint MINUSCA team handed over hampers containing sanitary towels, bathing and washing soap, underwear, wrappers and towels to female pupils at the school – under the umbrella of the Mission’s Civil-Military Co-operation (CIMIC) activities.

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While distributing the hampers which were received from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the ZAMBATT team briefed the schoolgirls on menstrual hygiene, Covid-19 preventive measures and environmental health.

Also present during the handover were Vakaga prefect Leonard Mbelle, MINUSCA Head of Office in Birao, Bessan Vikou, and ZAMBATT Commander Lieutenant Colonel Paul Sapezo, who urged the girls to work hard in school and emulate the blue helmets who are not only trained soldiers but also professionals in various fields.

Speaking on behalf of her fellow students, Simone Ndobi Kidana thanked ZAMBATT’s Female Engagement Team for their guidance on “how to care for themselves and the environment”. She said that they felt inspired by the female peacekeepers, whom she described as role models.

The 910-strong ZAMBATT contingent has been deployed to the Central African Republic since 30 April 2015. Zambian peacekeepers regularly conduct CIMIC activities in addition to their key mandated activities – that include the protection of civilians, ensuring a safe environment for the delivery of humanitarian assistance and the security of UN personnel and property as well as supporting the extension of State authority.