Knowledge Regarding Menstrual Hygiene among Adolescent Girls in selected school, Mangalore with a View to Develop an Information Booklet

Abstract

adolescent and tomorrow’s mother 1 . Menstruation is a physiological phenomenon which is unique to females that begins in adolescence. It is monthly uterine bleeding for 4-5 days coming regularly every 28 days. Normally females get 13 menses in a year and around 400 menses in her reproductive life. The first menstruation is termed as “menarche”. The age of menarche is between 10- 16 years in India 3 . Though menstruation is a natural and normal physiological process for all healthy adult women as ever, it has been surrounded by secrecy, negativity and myths in much society 4 . It is still clouded by socio-cultural restriction and taboos and associated with various myth and misconception 5 . A study conducted in Ranchi, India reported that 45.5% of the girls face social restrictions, majority of them were restricted in religious practices, wearing new clothes, cooking food, etc 6 . Girl should have good menstrual hygiene practice during this period. Menstrual hygiene refers to the personal hygiene practice during menstruation. A girl needs to practice a high level of personal hygiene during her periods and the personal hygiene starts from the selection of best sanitary products, its proper usage, disposal, body cleanliness, diet, etc. Menstrual hygiene is important because it is a natural process of hygiene related to practice of girls during menstruation as it has an impact in terms of to prevent reproductive tract infections and urinary tract infections 7 . Many studies depicted that there is improper and inadequate care and unhygienic practices during menstruation among adolescent girls. An article in The Times of India revealed that only 12% of menstruating women use sanitary napkins and 88% of women use unsanitized cloth, ashes and husk sand. Incidence of reproductive tract infection is 70% more common among these women 8 . Moreover, hygiene is neglected by girls especially in rural areas, due to lack of availability and inability to afford sanitary napkins 9 . A study conducted in Aurangabad, India reported that 60% of urban girls used market available sanitary napkins whereas; this was limited to 6% of rural girls 10 . There is lack of awareness of menstrual hygiene and care during menstruation which is due to the lack of education related to menstruation and menstrual hygiene. A study conducted in Nagpur reported that only 36.95% of the girls were aware of menstruation before menarche. More than three fourth of girls were not aware about the cause and source of bleeding and majority of them had knowledge about the use of sanitary pads 11 . Good menstrual hygiene practice of girls during menstruation are considerable vital, as it has an impact in terms of increased vulnerability to reproductive tract infections. Ill hygiene practices which sometime result in reproductive tract infection and its complication further can lead to complications in pregnancy and transmitted to the offspring during pregnancy 12