PARIS, Oct 8, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Female footballers in South Sudan are
breaking down "taboo topics" relating to their personal health thanks to a
pilot project organised in the young nation.

"Girls and women's football, it's not just football, giving access to play
the game, but it's really tackling some of these social challenges or taboo
topics," Arijana Demirovic, the head of world governing body FIFA's women's
football development, told AFP.

In South Sudan, girls "struggle quite a lot around the topic of menstruation,
menstrual hygiene and also access to sanitary products," Bosnian-born
Demirovic pointed out.

FIFA estimate that 70 percent of women in the East African nation which
gained independence in 2011 after six years of brutal civil war do not have
access to hygiene products, preventing girls from regularly attending school
and practicing sports.

Demirovic and her team visited the capital Juba several times, holding
workshops with members of the national team, and distributing hygienic
products and kits.

"We had to understand what they do for hygiene, what they know and what they
use as traditional products," said the 33-year-old.

"In Africa too often young girls use inappropriate fabrics, mattress sponges
or pieces of cutout fabric," Senegalese Yaya Helene Ndiaye, president of the
NGO Kitambaa, which accompanies FIFA in South Sudan, told AFP.

- 'Empowering girls' -

"I was there from the first meeting," South Sudanese international midfielder
Esther Luis, who plays for Munuki FC in Juba, told AFP.

"We were really happy that this type of project came to our country. I really
appreciated it. In our culture, it's not always easy to talk about this kind
of subject.

"While most of my teammates understand that it's just part of life, in rural
areas it can sometimes be difficult to talk about."

Through football "we can reach them," said 19-year-old Luis of girls who come
from rural areas. "When their teammates explain it to them, they feel less
embarrassed."

Demirovic said she has been encouraged by the "positive feedback" that FIFA's
'Menstrual Health and Education through Football' project has received and
its success in "empowering girls to take care of their own health".

"A lot of the girls told us that they use the sanitary pads, it also solves a
question of budget for their families," she said.

"They have shared information with their siblings."

She added: "They've seen quite a lot of benefits of it and seeing how some of
these girls' lives have changed in a very positive way in a very short time.

"Coaches from other member associations have also approached us, not
necessarily having access to the sanitary products but really making sure
that girls do get to have this education on their menstrual cycle and how it
impacts them and their performance."

Demirovic added that NGOs working in South Sudan are already helping girls to
produce reusable pads themselves.

"In the future they could even produce them locally, at low cost, and this
would also help them in terms of economic empowerment," she said.

"That's a bit of a next step within the project to make sure that this type
of initiatives are sustainable.

"South Sudan is a positive example of what football can do".