Our study’s objective is to examine the various socio-demographic and mass media factors of sanitary item usage among rural and urban women in India. We have used data from the Indian version of the Demographic and Health Survey, conducted in 2015–16 for this study, with a sample of 247,833 women in the age group of 15 to 24 years. Binary logistics regression was performed separately for urban and rural women to understand the various determinants of sanitary item usage. We found that three-quarters of women in urban areas use sanitary items compared to half of the women in rural areas. Indian women in rural areas appear to be at a considerable disadvantage compared to their urban counterparts with regard to sanitary item usage. Factors determining sanitary item usage did not vary between urban and rural areas. However, education, wealth, mass media, and toilet facility were the major factors in understanding the improvement in sanitary item usage in urban and rural areas. At the policy level, there is need to focus on (a) disseminating knowledge about menstrual hygiene management (MHM) practices and provisioning of sanitary items; and (b) providing exposure to traditional media channels to potentially reduce the social stigma associated with these issues and bring critical conversations to the forefront, especially among the socio-economically disadvantaged groups.
This paper empirically explores the impact of COVID‐19 pandemic and its accompanying lockdown on adolescent girls’ and women's access to sanitary pads in India. We have used the National Health Mission's Health Management Information System (NHM‐HMIS) data for the study, which provides data on pads' distribution on a district level. The empirical strategy used in the study exploits the variation of districts into red, orange, and green zones as announced by the Indian Government. To understand how lockdown severity impacts access to sanitary pads, we used a difference‐in‐difference (DID) empirical strategy to study sanitary pads' access in red and orange zones compared to green zones. We find clear evidence of the impact of lockdown intensity on the provision of sanitary pads, with districts with the strictest lockdown restrictions suffering the most. Our study highlights how sanitary pads distribution was overlooked during the pandemic, leaving girls and women vulnerable to managing their menstrual needs. Thus, there is a requirement for strong policy to focus on the need to keep sanitary pads as part of the essential goods to ensure the needs of the girls and women are met even in the midst of a pandemic, central to an inclusive response.
Background There is a piece of growing evidence that associates menstrual practices with menstrual health. But menstruation has always been accompanied by various taboos and myths. Findings from qualitative studies have highlighted that these taboos and myths impact the psychosocial outcomes of the menstruators, ultimately affecting their menstrual health. However, no quantitative study has explored this link between menstrual practices and menstrual health. Thus, as a part of this study, we try to understand the role of taboos and myths as a mediator in explaining the relationship between menstrual practices and menstrual health. Methods The study uses the data from a cross-sectional survey of 683 active menstruators from India. First, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to develop and validate a new scale on Menstrual Health. Next, structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationship between menstrual practice and menstrual health. Results A clean one-factor scale was observed for the Menstrual Health scale using EFA and CFA with the fit measures (CFI= 0.99; RMSEA=0.059; SRMR=0.017; GFI=0.994). Data analysis, performed using structural equation modeling (CFI= 0.952; RMSEA=0.044; SRMR=0.047; GFI=0.959), revealed that the taboos and myths fully mediate the relationship between Menstrual Practices and Menstrual Health. The indirect effect reveals menstruators with perceptions of taboos and myths are more likely to have poor menstrual health. The ratio of the indirect effect to the total overall effect is 0.506. Conclusions Taboos and Myths are detrimental to the menstrual health of the menstruators. Different bodies like the government, policymakers, and NGOs should address this issue by conducting education and awareness programs for the menstruators, specifically targeting the socio-cultural aspects of menstruation to improve the menstrual practices and dissolve the taboos and myths around menstruation. Key messages Menstrual practices and taboos and myths are significant determinants for menstrual health. Educational interventions must be done to promote awareness around the myths and best menstrual practices that society can adopt.
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