Publication:

Impact of dysmenorrhea on urban school girls in Tanzania: the need for a comprehensive menstrual health management guideline

Background Menstrual health management is poorly understood by school girls in most low-income countries. Water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities are essential for the proper management of menstruation. Dysmenorrhea should also be considered. The current study investigated knowledge of menstrual hygiene and the prevalence of dysmenorrhea among school girls in a city in Southern Highland Tanzania.

Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in Mbeya city in the southern highlands of Tanzania. 292 high school girls were randomly selected from three schools. Data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The data were initially entered into the computer using Epi-info version 3.5.1 and later exported to SPSS for Windows version 20.0 for analysis. Multivariate analyses were performed with a 95% confidence interval. The significance level was set at p≤0.05.

Results The mean age of the participants was 18.02±1.34 years. 68.49% had a good knowledge of menstrual hygiene (mean knowledge level; 64.64±9.13%) and 91.78% had good menstrual hygiene practices (mean score; 89.32±13.7%). Delayed age of menarche and years of menstruation were associated with good menstrual practices, OR; 3.94, 95% CI 1.49-10.72, p=0.006. 56.5% reported having moderate to severe menstrual pain.

Conclusions Most participants had good knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene, however, the level of knowledge was lower than practice. The majority suffer from unbearable menstrual cramps that adversely affect their studies. There is an urgent need for a comprehensive guideline for menstrual health management in schools that takes into account knowledge, practice, and pain management.