Melcom Group Of Companies under its Melcom Care Foundation yesterday donated 20,000 bras to five Senior High Schools in Accra.
This forms part of their contribution to Girl-Child Education in the country.
The beneficiary schools were Achimota Senior High School, Accra Girls' Senior High School, Nungua Senior High School, Accra Wesley Girls' Senior High School and St. Theresa's School.
The Group Director of Communications, Melcom Group of Companies, Mr Godwin Avenorgbo, making the presentation, said it was necessary for corporate institutions and citizens to invest in human resource to enhance national development.
He urged individuals not to only invest in their line of business, but in national development projects as well.
Mr Avenorgbo asserted that Melcom Care Foundation was set up with the sole purpose of providing support for critical areas in the country.
Highlighting their contribution to Girl- Child Education, Mr Avenorgbo stated that Melcom Care Foundation partnered with Guinness Ghana Breweries, Public Limited Company to donate the largest quantity of sanitary pads to the Touching the Lives of Girls Foundation International.
He said a significant area for which Melcom Care had become well recognised for fulfilling its mission of care was the provision of sanitary pads for school going female students in Senior High Schools.
However, he said their attention was drawn to an area of the Girl-Child need which had not been highlighted for public attention and support.
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This he noted as the 'girls-under garment', which is not given the necessary attention or being covered directly in the state budget, but girls use it every day in their lives.
Mr Avenorgbo stressed that it was time for Ghana as a country to start producing more of these girl-child needs, such as underwear garments and sanitary pads, to reduce importation of these products.
"It is our belief that if as a nation we can invest resources in creating capacity for home grown production of many of these basic needs for our younger population, the import bill to be saved can be channelled into providing the bigger and more conspicuous developmental needs of all Ghanaians," he added.
He called on Ghanaian investors and innovators to use banana plant to make sanitary pads since researchers had recently revealed that banana plant can be used to produce sanitary pads from start to finish.
"We grow cotton in Ghana and same can be used to make girl-bra and other underwear as well as sanitary pads which consume so much foreign exchange and attract too many taxes, thus making these basic products out of the reach of the common people," he stressed.
Representative from various schools thanked Melcom Group of companies for their kind gesture.
