Award-winning charity Sport Aberdeen is pleased to announce that complimentary sanitary items are now available at city venues with the aim to tackle ‘period poverty’.
Free sanitary products are currently available in a number of the charity’s venues across Aberdeen, with the aim to have all fitness and swimming facilities stocked with the free provisions within the next month.
The products are being distributed by the charity and social enterprise CFINE for Aberdeen City Council to public venues across the city where significant footfall has been identified.
The move comes after the Scottish Government made funding available in 2018 to supply products in schools, colleges and universities free of charge, and the scheme is now being extended with the hope of ending ‘period poverty’.
‘Period poverty’ refers to having a lack of access to sanitary products due to financial constraints. A recent study by charity Plan International UK found that 1 in 10 girls aged 14 to 21 couldn't afford sanitary products. The survey, which took responses from 1000 girls in the UK, also found that 14% of girls have had to borrow products from a friend and 12% have had to improvise or do with makeshift products due to affordability issues.
David Selkirk, Sport Aberdeen director of community leisure operations, said:
“Sport Aberdeen is proud to support this move in providing free sanitary products throughout Aberdeen and Scotland, and it is my hope that our customers will take full advantage of this offering.
“As a local charity we look to support the whole community with a specific focus on those most in need, and this is just small way in which we can help.
“Statistics show an alarming number of girls and women often do not participate in sport due to lack of sanitary products, but by removing this barrier we can encourage more people to take part in physical activity.”
Dave Simmers, chief executive of CFINE, said:
“CFINE is delighted for Sport Aberdeen to join the group of organisations providing access to free sanitary products in Aberdeen.
“In partnership with Aberdeen City Council and The Scottish Government, CFINE, through our FareShare Grampian programme, is delivering sanitary products to over 220 access points in the city and 218 access points in the Shire and across the Highlands and Islands, including educational institutions, community settings, as well as third-sector organisations.
“An important element of this initiative is challenging the stigma around menstruation, which is a natural function. The lack of appropriate protection is a concerning health and wellbeing issue.”