Publication:

Exploring the dynamics of menstrual health and hygiene management among adolescent girls in rural schools of Mysuru district, Karnataka

Background Poor knowledge and poor practice in menstrual health and hygiene management results in unhealthy practices which in turn impacts on overall health of the girl child resulting in increased reproductive tract infection and inhibiting the girl’s scholastic performance.

Methods A school based cross-sectional study was conducted among 3 randomly selected rural schools. Adolescent girls in 8th to 10th standards, who have attained menarche, were included in the study and surveyed using a pretested self-administered questionnaire to evaluate their knowledge, perception and practices related to menstrual health and hygiene management. Data was analyzed using SPSS v22 (IBM Corp, Armonk, NY, USA).

Results Mean age was 14.32(±0.98) years and mean age at menarche was 12.74 (±1.11) years. 51.6% knew about menstruation at menarche. 57.5% knew about sanitary pad, 21.6% knew that hormones as the reason for menstruation and 5.2% marked uterus as the organ responsible for menstruation. 63.4% of the participants perceived that menstruation is a normal & healthy part of life. 83.7% were using sanitary pad, 25.5% flush the menstrual material in the toilet as a disposal method.

Conclusions 21.6% of the participants were found to have good knowledge about menstruation, 63.4% of the participants feel that menstruation is a normal & healthy part of life and 83.7% use sanitary pads. Hence this study emphasizes the need of educating the adolescent girls regarding MHHM.