UNICEF launches menses tracker, information app for young girls
By Irene.Githinji, May 31, 2023
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has launched ‘Oky Kenya’, a period tracker designed to provide girls with menstrual information.
UNICEF Representative to Kenya, Shaheen Nilofer (right) said girls are increasingly searching online with important questions about their menstrual health but are not always accessing the correct information.
In response to this challenge, she said UNICEF has launched ‘Oky Kenya’, an adapted version of the world’s first period tracker offline app, specifically designed for girls living in low and middle income countries like Kenya.
Dispel myths
“One of the main reasons girls are in search of information about menstruation is to dispel myths and misconceptions that often lead to anxiety, fear and shame. I would like to congratulate Oky Kenya for developing an innovative app for Kenyan girls, by Kenyan girls. This will help to break barriers and empower girls to take control of their own health and ultimately life,” said Nilofer, in a statement yesterday.
She said UNICEF supported adaptation of Oky to provide information about menstruation tailored to the Kenyan context, in partnership with LVCT Health, the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education.
LVCT Health led the country adaptation and user design workshops with adolescent girls in western, central and coastal Kenya, and also engaged adolescent girls as key advisors, peer ambassadors and mobilisers.
Normal process
Menstruation is a normal process but is often shrouded in secrecy and shame, despite its monthly occurrence for 9.3 million women and girls of reproductive age in Kenya.
She said Oky Kenya provides girls with appropriate and evidence-based information about their periods in fun, creative and positive ways, delivered straight into their hands through the tools they use every day — mobile phones. “Its features include individualised period cycle trackers and calendars, tips, and menstruation information. Girls have been decision-makers in the design of this app throughout the entire design process,” UNICEF stated.