Hearing-Impaired Girls Put Nigeria on Global Tech Map
Five hearing-impaired secondary schoolgirls from Government Secondary School, Kuje, Abuja, have emerged as global finalists at the 2026 Technovation Girls World Summit in Bengaluru, India, with an artificial intelligence-powered application designed to improve access to menstrual products. According to a statement issued on Monday by the Technology Beyond Disability Initiative, the team, known as the STRIM Girls, competed against thousands of teams from more than 160 countries. The team comprises Adegbile Teniola Vivian, Sulaiman Maryam Adenike Isah, Moses Joy, Ukpapi Theresa Uzepi and Yusuf Ruth, who developed the application, Saving Pad, under the mentorship of the initiative. The innovation aims to help students locate nearby sanitary pad banks, request menstrual products and access menstrual health education, particularly addressing barriers faced by deaf girls and students with disabilities. Its features include an interactive map for finding pad banks, a product request system, period tracking and educational resources on menstrual health.
The application also enables coordinators to monitor supplies and receive alerts when stocks run low, while providing non-governmental organisations and donor agencies with tools to track product distribution, assess demand and coordinate restocking. In partnership with the Deaf Women Aloud Initiative, the team has launched a pilot programme across three special schools in Abuja, with plans to expand to primary healthcare centres and vulnerable communities nationwide. At the global summit, the girls demonstrated how accessible technology and community-based support could help address menstrual health challenges while advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on good health and well-being, quality education and partnerships. Explaining the motivation behind their innovation, the girls said a girl should know where to obtain menstrual products when her period begins, rather than be left wondering what to do. Upon their return to Nigeria, the team received a welcome at the airport led by the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Maryam Babangida National Centre for Women Development, Dr Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, alongside members of her management team.
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