Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether she has made an assessment of the difficulties that women in Zimbabwe face in obtaining sanitary products in that country; and whether he is taking steps to tackle that humanitarian need.

Period poverty is a serious issue in Zimbabwe. For example, recent reports show that some 62% of girls are missing school every month and 5% drop out completely due to menstruation. The Government of Zimbabwe has sought to address this through suspending import duty and value added tax on sanitaryware. Through our programmes in Zimbabwe we are currently supporting over 12,000 girls to stay in secondary school by providing a package of essential items including sanitaryware. In addition, the recently launched United Nations humanitarian flash appeal highlights procurement of sanitaryware as a priority action for specific groups.