Disposable Sanitary Napkins Research Articles

Social Awareness for Women’s Health: An Endline Study in Gazaria, Munshiganj, Bangladesh

Background: The “Social Awareness for Women’s Health: Gazaria Pilot” project aimed to address menstrual health awareness and distribute free sanitary napkins in the Gazaria region. This endline survey evaluates the project’s impact on menstrual health practices, knowledge, and socio-cultural barriers among women and girls. Objective: Baseline data highlighted critical challenges, including limited awareness about menstrual hygiene, widespread use of non-hygienic materials such as old cloths, and significant emotional distress associated with menstruation. Access to reliable menstrual health information was predominantly through informal channels, with cultural taboos further exacerbating the menstrual health crisis. Methodology: A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews to gather data from community members participating in the Gazaria Pilot project. Surveys were conducted to assess changes in health behaviors and attitudes, while interviews provided insights into community perceptions and experiences with project interventions. Findings: Following the project’s implementation, there was a notable improvement in menstrual hygiene practices. The use of disposable sanitary napkins increased from 5.99% at baseline to 15.36% at endline, reflecting enhanced access and acceptance of sanitary products. Additionally, knowledge about the risks of unclean menstrual practices and the benefits of personal hygiene saw significant gains, with awareness rising from 55.5% to 72.66% and from 62.0% to 75.78%, respectively. Menstruation has decreased emotional reactions, promoting mental well-being, but challenges persist like reliance on old cloths, lack of medical advice, and socio-cultural taboos affecting health behaviors. Conclusion: The project emphasizes the need for community-based interventions and sustained engagement to improve menstrual health outcomes in Gazaria, highlighting the need for ongoing efforts.

GREEN PURCHASE INTENTION ANALYSIS FOR MENSTRUAL CUP PRODUCTS

This research discusses sustainability that impacts the environment. We as humans find it very difficult not to coexist with objects that have plastic materials. Especially for women, who use sanitary napkin products for single use and have a negative impact on the environment and for the women themselves can be attacked by diseases, Such as cancer. Menstrual Cup is a replacement product for disposable sanitary napkins that has better benefits compared to other menstrual products. However, in Indonesia itself, Menstrual Cup is still something foreign and taboo because of the way it is used and the negative stigma given to consumers. The research that has been conducted aims to determine how much influence Green Product Knowledge and Consumer Doubts have on the Green Purchase Intention of Menstrual Cup products. This research used Explanatory Research with a quantitative approach. Data was collected online using a web link from Qualtrics Survey, using a Semantic Differential scales. The questionnaire link was distributed through social media such as: Whatsapp, Instagram and so on. The number of respondents taken was 128 Gen Z female respondents who have experienced menstruation and who have never used a menstrual cup. The data was processed using Multiple Linear Regression. The research method used is quantitative research using multiple linear regression analysis. The findings of this study are that there is a positive influence of the Green Product Knowledge variable and the Consumer Doubt variable which does not have a significant effect on Green Purchase Intention. The results of this study can provide insight to companies and future researchers. It is also hoped that this research can be expanded to include and focus on single or married women, Gen Z, Gen Millennials and others. The limitation of this research is on Gen Z women in Jakarta who have never used menstrual cup products. There is not much research about menstrual cup, especially in Jakarta Indonesia.

Correlation Between Knowledge Level About Cloth Sanitary Napkins and Interest in Using Cloth Sanitary Napkins for Young Women

Long-term use of disposable sanitary napkins can cause reproductive health problems and have an impact on the environment. In the modern era, rewashable cloth pads appeared. Based on the data obtained on young women aged 12-15 years, it was found that 23 young women were still using disposable pads. 82.6% of young women did not know what cloth sanitary napkins were and how useful they were, while 17.4% of young women already knew what cloth sanitary napkins were and did not know the benefits of cloth sanitary napkins. Knowledge about the use of cloth sanitary napkins is still low regarding management in dealing with menstruation which in turn impacts on the use of inappropriate sanitary napkins. This study aims to determine the relationship between the level of knowledge about cloth sanitary napkins and interest in the use of cloth sanitary napkins for young women at SMP Negeri 2 Sewon, Bantul Yogyakarta. This type of research is quantitative with a survey method and a cross sectional research design. The population of this study were eighth grade girls at SMP Negeri 2 Sewon. A sample of 57 young women. The sampling technique in this study was using proportional stratified random sampling. Data collection was carried out using a data questionnaire using univariate and bivariate analysis. The results showed that the level of knowledge about cloth sanitary napkins which was lacking was 4 people (7%), 7 people (12.3%) were sufficient, and good were 46 people (80.7%) and interest in using cloth sanitary napkins for young women with the category low interest amounted to 9 people (15.8%), moderate interest 42 people (73.7%), high interest 6 people (10.6%). The results of the bivariate analysis obtained a p value of 0.009 so that the p value 0.05. The conclusion of this study is that young women have a good level of knowledge and have a moderate interest in using cloth sanitary napkins and there is a relationship between the level of knowledge and interest in using cloth sanitary napkins.

Pelatihan Pembuatan Pembalut Kain di Desa Proto Barat, Kecamatan Kedungwuni, Kabupaten Pekalongan

Cloth pads are a necessity during menstruation. According to research, disposable sanitary napkins currently in use are carcinogenic and contain harmful substances that have the potential to cause dangerous diseases for the reproductive organs. This training aims to find out how to manufacture, use and advantages of eco-friendly cloth sanitary napkins. These innovative cloth pads are made of fleece, diadora, cotton, waterproof, thread, sewing needle, ruler, scissors, pencil/ballpoint pen/marker, and adhesive. The method used with several steps, such as the presentation of material on how to make cloth pads and the advantages and disadvantages of cloth pads, product making begins with pattern making to the sewing stage, and the conclusion of the activity. The result is a product in the form of eco-friendly cloth pads.

Improved Accuracy of Naïve Bayes Algorithm and Support Vector Machine Using Particle Swarm Optimization for Menstrual Cup Sentiment Analysis on Twitter

Menstrual cup is a menstrual hygiene sanitation tool that replaces disposable sanitary napkins for women that reaps many pros and cons in its use. From this, it is necessary to analyze the public's views regarding the use of menstrual cups, which is called sentiment analysis. Sentiment analysis is a process that aims to determine the polarity of the sentiment of a text. This paper performs a classification of menstrual cup sentiment analysis on Twitter using the Naïve Bayes and the Support Vector Machine algorithm. Particle Swarm Optimization is applied to improve the accuracy of both classification algorithms. The final result of the accuracy obtained by the Naïve Bayes algorithm is 92.72% and the Support Vector Machine algorithm is 96.13%. While the accuracy results after Particle Swarm Optimization is applied, for Naïve Bayes it produces an accuracy rate of 95.87%, and Support Vector Machine is 96.68%.

Household sanitation and menstrual hygiene management among women: Evidence from household survey under Swachh Bharat (Clean India) Mission in rural Odisha, India.

Introduction:Discussion on women empowerment without addressing their basic needs would be meaningless. As such, the needs of women and girls have been prioritized in global sanitation efforts including menstrual hygiene. However, there is little research on existing approaches on menstrual management. India’s most ambitious sanitation campaign named Swachh Bharat Mission or “Clean India Mission” aimed to achieve universal sanitation coverage in every single household, targeted to end open defecation by October 02, 2019. This study aimed to assess the women’s perception of household sanitation facilities and menstrual hygiene management experience in Odisha under Swachh Bharat Mission.Methods:The study is a community-based survey having cross-sectional in nature conducted among 700 rural women and girls aged 15–45 years in the Balesore district of Odisha state in India from January to April 2021. A multi-stage sampling method was adopted to select the study participants. Data was collected using a pretested questionnaire based on the Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 survey questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS version 25. Descriptive statistics was used to assess the household sanitation and menstrual hygiene management experience among women.Results:More than two-thirds (68.4%) of rural households use improved sanitation facilities. Around 30% of families have inadequate sanitation infrastructure, which means at least one household member defecates in the open space. Nearly 64.6% disposed of their menstrual absorbents in the bush or field, while 29.1% disposed in the river and 24.1% in the waste bin. Still, 40.6% of women were using clothes as menstrual absorbents, and 54.9% of the respondents reported washing their menstrual materials for re-use. Of those who washed and re-used, 99.2% said their re-use material was completely dry before re-use. About 69.7% of the respondents mentioned that they change their menstrual absorbents in sleeping areas at home. About 91% of the respondents reported that the place where they changed their menstrual absorbents was safe, clean, and private. Only 22.5% of women responded to having water and soap at their menstruation management area.Conclusion:The effort for improvements in sanitary techniques during menstruation is partly effective in creating healthy behavior. The current strategy for developing programs to adopt menstrual hygiene measures needs a bottom-up approach with women at the center. Components associated with menstrual hygiene management, such as women’s cleanliness, water supply, and the availability and accessibility of disposable sanitary napkins, should be given specific attention. It is essential to acknowledge the issues like toilet construction and behavior change communication to consolidate the gains in an era of “Clean India Mission.”

Hubungan Pengetahuan Siswi dengan Minat dalam Pemilihan Pembalut Kain

Sanitary napkins during menstruation are the main requirement. According to research, disposable sanitary napkins currently used are carcinogenic and contain harmful substances that can cause dangerous diseases for the reproductive organs. The general objective of this study was to determine the relationship between student knowledge and interest in the selection of cloth sanitary napkins. The design of this study used a literature review design. Articles are collected using search engines such as EBSCO, Sciencedirect, Proquest, and Google Scholar. The criteria for the articles used were those published in 2019 and 2020. Based on the articles collected, it was found that there was a relationship between knowledge and interest. According to the researchers, this happened because these three studies had the same subject characteristics. The research respondents were women who had experienced menstruation and the similarity of research in choosing the right and safe, sanitary napkins for women's reproductive health. A woman is expected to be able to choose the right sanitary napkin. Mistakes in choosing pads can result in skin irritation, allergies, skin diseases, and infections. The choice of sanitary napkins is also adjusted to the activities a woman will do.

ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF MENSTRUAL PAD, TAMPONS, AND MENSTRUAL CUP DURING MENARCHE

Various kinds of alternative product innovations have been to substitute disposable sanitary napkins for reducing the increasing waste of disposable sanitary napkins and reduce environmental pollution. The products in question include, among others, menstrual cups, tampons. Tampons and menstrual cups are still rarely used by Indonesian women because there is little knowledge about menstrual hygiene and how to use them are still considered taboo. The objective of the study is to compare the analysis of the use of sanitary napkins, tampons, and menstrual cups during menarche. The method used in this study is a literature study from the journal published in 2015-2020. The database was from Ebsco, ProQuest, and Science Direct database, and 231 articles were obtained and filtered so that the final result were 12 articles that matched. The results of the comparison of the use of sanitary napkins, tampons, and menstrual cups in terms of hygiene and safety, environmental impact, and effectiveness showed that menstrual cups were superior to the other two products. In conclusion, the alternatives menstrual sanitation tools besides sanitary napkins are tampons and menstrual cups.  This paper can be the basis for further research using different research designs to obtain more complete data.

Reusable sanitary napkins-time to revisit.

To assess knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of women regarding menstrual hygiene and to evaluate the use of reusable sanitary napkins as an alternative to disposable sanitary napkins. A community-based cross-sectional study was done in two phases. In the first phase, 50 married women attending Gynecology OPD were asked to use reusable sanitary napkins for 2months. A pre- and post-usage vaginal swab testing was done to rule out genital infection. This study was extended in the second phase to another 534 women after confirming that reusable sanitary napkins do not cause genital infection and are acceptable. KAP analysis regarding menstrual hygiene was done for all women. In phase 1 of the study, the microbiological evaluation revealed no pathological organisms on vaginal swab culture after 2months of usage. KAP analysis of 584 women revealed that only 26% women had awareness about menstruation before attaining menarche; in 51.88%, the primary source of information was their mother; 76.54% women in the study used disposable sanitary pads of which 15% were disposing of them unhygienically; 80.49% women found the reusable napkins comfortable and easy to use and 83.6% women confirmed recommending these napkins to others. Reusable sanitary pads are an effective, environment friendly, and cost-effective alternative to disposable napkins.

Establishment and quantitative measure of Stomoxys calcitrans (Linnaeus, 1758) colony production in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Functional insect vector colonies are essential for the study of their biology, evolution, behavior as well as control strategies of these organisms that transmit pathogens of medical and veterinary importance. In addition to the establishment, improvement and adaptation of pre-established protocols in the maintenance of a colony is important, as it may result in higher production of insects. Stomoxys calcitrans or stable fly causes important economic losses in production of beef and milk, besides mechanically transmitting a great variety of pathogens to cattle. In order to generate flies under laboratory conditions, a colony of S. calcitrans was established at our laboratory considering local environment geographical characteristics. Adults collected in UFRRJ campus were kept in the laboratory and maintained with daily feeding on anticoagulant-containing bovine blood offered in disposable sanitary napkins. Immature forms were maintained on diets rich in organic matter. The colony temperature and relative humidity were daily monitored as well as the development of insects. The monthly measured biological parameters included the development of eggs into pupae, of pupae into F1 adults and the comparison of the number of flies collected in the field with the number of F1 flies emerged in the laboratory. The data presented here was obtained from March to November 2019. In that period, the average per month of flies collected in the field was 604.2, of generated eggs was 2694.3, of generated pupae was 349.5 and of generated F1 flies in the laboratory was 205.9. Fluctuations of abiotic and biological factors contributed to an uneven production of flies in the colony throughout the months. This is the first report with numerical quantification of S. calcitrans flies production in a laboratory in Brazil. Some methodologies used in the colony shall be reevaluated and modified with the goal of obtaining higher numbers of flies generated in the laboratory over time.

Periods, Perceptions and Practice- A Study of Menstrual Awareness among Adolescent Girls in a Tribal District of Odisha, India

Menstruation is a normal biological phenomenon. Still it is associated with misperceptions, malpractices
 and challenges especially among female adolescents of low socioeconomic settings. The present study was
 conducted to investigate the knowledge about menstruation, determinants of menstrual hygiene management
 and the consequences of menstruation on college absenteeism in a tribal dominated backward district of
 Odisha, India. A college based cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was undertaken among randomly
 selected 740 female students who were attending 12th grade and undergraduate courses. About 64 % of
 girls had inappropriate knowledge about menstruation and MHM. Only 38 % girls used disposable sanitary
 napkins during menstruation. Almost 59 % of the respondents reported remaining absent from college during
 periods. High educational status of mother was found to be strong predictor of appropriate knowledge about
 menstruation among the adolescents. Economic constraint was found to be the major factor for not using
 disposable sanitary napkins which in turn is one of the major causes of college absenteeism. Girls also
 reported inability to change menstrual absorbents in college due to absence of proper disposal system.

Factors Associated with Disposable Menstrual Absorbent Use Among Young Women in India

Hygienic use of absorbent products during menstruation is a challenge for young women in India, especially among the underprivileged, who lack knowledge and access to resources. Reuse of menstrual absorbents can be unhygienic and result in adverse health and other outcomes. Data from the 2015-2016 National Family Health Survey-4 for 233,606 menstruating women aged 15-24 were used to examine levels and correlates of exclusive use of disposable absorbents during menstruation. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify disparities in exclusive use by such characteristics as caste, mass media exposure and interaction with health workers. Exclusive use of disposable absorbents was low among young women overall (37%), and varied substantially by caste and other characteristics. Compared with women from general castes, those from scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes had reduced odds of exclusive disposable absorbent use (odds ratios, 0.8-0.9). Disposable absorbent use was negatively associated with lower levels of education and household wealth, and rural residence. Compared with women who reported daily media exposure, those exposed less frequently had reduced odds of disposable absorbent use (0.7-0.9). Among those who recently met with a health worker, odds of use were lower if menstrual hygiene had not been discussed (0.9). Promoting awareness of proper menstrual hygiene-through education, media campaigns and discussion with reproductive health workers-and targeted interventions to disseminate and subsidize the purchase of disposable sanitary napkins should be pursued to address health disparities.

Measurement of Liquid Transport Properties of Sanitary Napkin with Modified Forced Flow Water Transport Tester

Sanitary napkin is worn in direct skin contact and is an essential product for most women. Its liquid transport properties, depending on the material and design, affect skin wetness, skin irritating potential and comfortable feeling. Disposable sanitary napkin is commonly used whilst reusable sanitary napkin is also available in the market for sustainable reason. In this study, a measurement method originated from Forced Flow Water Transport Tester (FFWTT) was introduced which can characterize the direction of liquid transport of sanitary napkin under different pressure loadings. Disposable sanitary napkins with nonwoven or perforated film surface were compared against the reusable sanitary napkins. The results found that the reusable sanitary napkins tend to accumulate more next-to-skin moisture than the disposable sanitary napkin at equivalent loadings. Also, its transplanar wicking is poor. Besides, disposable sanitary napkins incorporated with superabsorbent polymer provide acceptable liquid transport property whilst those made of flex foam give the best performance.

Healthy Mother & Child: Foundation of a Strong Nation.

Healthy Mother & Child: Foundation of a Strong Nation.

Wings to Flyy- But to Where? Menstrual Hygiene, Marketization and Vulnerability Among Subaltern Women in India

In this exploratory study we look at how marketization and marketing of disposable sanitary napkins (DSN) is creating new vulnerabilities among subaltern women of India. A pilot study was done around Auroville near Puducherry in southern India. Our initial findings suggest that there is significant marketization of menstrual hygiene, evident from multiple reports, media coverage, advertisements and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs of leading MNCs and market-making policies of the Indian government. The entire effort is geared to promote DSNs among sections of women who have been using traditional methods like cloth. Good menstrual hygiene practices can lead to improved quality of life for women and young girls. However, the solutions projected through marketization and marketing of DSNs can lead to new problems and vulnerabilities for the subaltern consumer.