Dancehall artiste Tifa is using her platform to call for a balance in pricing and accessibility for sanitary napkins in comparison to condoms.
In a video shared on her Instagram yesterday, the Spell it Out singjay, says she thinks it’s unfair that a product which females as young as nine years old must use every month is more expensive than condoms.
Tifa’s post has garnered a myriad of comments, rehashing a debate on period poverty.
Among those commenting was Shelly Ann Weeks; author, activist and founder of Her Flow, a non-profit organization advocating for the end of period poverty in Jamaica; she lauded Tifa for highlighting the issue on her platform and wrote that menstrual products should be free, noting that no one should have to live the indignity of period poverty.
Meanwhile, Music News made checks with the Consumer Affairs Commission and confirmed that sanitary napkins and tampons do not attract GCT. Research also revealed that the products vary in pricing, a pack containing ten pads can retail from as low as three hundred dollars to a high of nine hundred Jamaican dollars; while a pack containing three regular condoms sells from as low as one hundred and ten Jamaican dollars to as high as one hundred and thirty-five Jamaican dollars. Additionally, condoms are available free of charge at health centres island wide.
