Menstrual hygiene: awareness and practices amongst adolescent girls attended school health camp in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Authors

  • Amol Sarvade Department of Community Medicine, LTMMC, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
  • Rachana G. Nile Department of Physiology, TNMC, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20163903

Keywords:

Adolescent girls, Menstrual hygiene, Practices, Restrictions

Abstract

Background: Adolescence in girls signifies the transition from girlhood to womanhood. Menstruation is considered unclean in India and there are many restrictions imposed during menstruation. Good hygiene practices are essential during menstruation. There is a lacuna in the awareness about menstruation among adolescent girls. To assess the awareness and practices of menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls attended school health camp in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.

Methods: A community based cross sectional study was carried out during the period of September to December 2014 amongst 70 girls attended school health camp Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. Information regarding the socioeconomic and educational profile of family was elucidated. Data was entered using Microsoft excel and analysed with SPSS software.

Results: More than half 57.2% girls achieved their puberty after the age of 14 years. Only 28% of the girls actually knew that the menstruation is a normal biological process. Maximum 85.7% girls were imposed with religious restrictions. Awareness about the menstruation before menarche was not present in almost 64% of girls.

Conclusions: A variety of factors are known to affect menstrual hygiene practices and the restrictions followed. Awareness regarding the need for information about healthy menstrual practices is very important. 

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Published

2016-12-22

How to Cite

Sarvade, A., & Nile, R. G. (2016). Menstrual hygiene: awareness and practices amongst adolescent girls attended school health camp in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 3(11), 3022–3025. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20163903

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Section

Original Research Articles