Stop taxing sanitary pads, civil society to govt

In an effort to promote women’s menstrual hygiene, civil society organizations have urged the government to keep its promise to waive the tax on sanitary pads.

Speaking to reporters during both the current national sanitary week and the Uganda water and environment week, a civil society organization affiliated with the Uganda Water and Sanitation Network (UWASNET) stated that although the government has pledged to guarantee the free distribution of sanitary pads, their high taxation makes it difficult for many women and girls, particularly those living in rural areas, to afford them.

Pads should be given away for free, according to Leonard Opeto, the technical program officer at World Vision Uganda, but oddly, taxes are going up on these things. This is very bad because there is no choice about having a menstrual cycle.

He continued by saying that all women had to endure it in agony each month and that all the civil society was asking the government to do was remove the taxes on sanitary pads so that they would become more affordable.

He cited a 2023 study that showed women made up only 30% of those investing in household sanitation to illustrate how women and girls are disproportionately affected by poor sanitation but are not included in community planning processes.

The CSOs stated that the main obstacles to ending extreme poverty and obstructing Uganda’s economic and human development are the lack of access to safe water and the unhygienic conditions in homes, schools, health facilities, and public spaces. However, they added that this trend needs to change.

Achieving people-centered goals is heavily dependent on global partnerships, they said, even though Uganda has made progress in terms of access to safe water, which currently stands at 72% in urban areas and 67% in rural areas, compared to the average for the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa, which stands at 57%.