The main objective was to assess knowledge, practices, and restrictions faced by young women regarding their menstrual hygiene. The views of adult women having young daughters were also included and both views were compared. In addition, the factors influencing the menstrual hygiene practices were also studied. The study was carried out during 2008 in Mumbai, India. The mixed methods approach was followed for the data collection. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to collect the data. For quantitative survey, totally 192 respondents (96 adult and 96 younger women) were selected. While young women were asked about questions related to their menstruation, adult women were asked questions to find out how much they know about menstrual history of their daughters. The qualitative data helped to supplement the findings from the quantitative survey and to study the factors affecting menstrual practices in young women. The mean age at menarche reported was 13.4 years and 30–40% of young girls did not receive any information about menstruation before menarche. It is thus seen that very few young girls between the age group 15 and 24 years did receive any information before the onset of menstruation. Among those who received some information, it was not adequate enough. The source of information was also not authentic. Both young and adult women agreed on this. Due to the inadequate knowledge, there were certain unhygienic practices followed by the young girls resulting in poor menstrual hygiene. It also leads to many unnecessary restrictions on young girls and they faced many health problems and complaints, which were either ignored or managed inappropriately. The role of health sector was almost negligible from giving information to the management of health problems of these young girls. This paper reemphasizes the important, urgent, and neglected need of providing correct knowledge to the community including adolescent girls.
Access to safe abortion is a reproductive rights and justice issue, and it is imperative that safe abortion access during and after the COVID- pandemic is a reality for all. India imposed a lockdown in March to contain the spread of the pandemic. Limited mobility, lack of clarity about abortion as an essential service and abortion as a service permitted through telemedicine, shut down of services providing long-acting and permanent methods of contraception, and changes to decision-making about birthing and parenting during a pandemic are factors that may impact the demand for abortion during and after the lockdown. Shortage of raw materials and limited inter-and intra-state transport of drugs may result in breakages in the supply of medication abortion. Given that percent of abortions in India in occurred outside of health facilities, the pandemic may have several implications on the need for evidence-based information and quality abortion services, as well as if and how medication abortion is accessed in India, and what self-managed abortion looks like in the COVID- era. We discuss factors contributing to reduced access to abortion, changes in abortion need, and suggest strategies to respond to an increased demand for abortion in India.
India has the world's fastest growing outbreak of COVID-19. With limited mobility, increased reports of intimate partner violence, changes in living patterns of migrants, delays in accessing contraception and safe abortion care, and potential changes to decisions about parenting, there may be an increased need for abortion services in India due to the pandemic. The use of technology for providing abortion information and services has been well documented in global literature. The safety of abortion provision using telehealth has been established in several contexts including the United States and Australia. The importance of hotlines and other support systems that use technology to provide information and support to clients through their abortion is also highlighted in the literature. Several countries, such as the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, and Pakistan are now allowing the use of technology for abortion/post-abortion care in light of the pandemic; however, India's telemedicine guidelines do not include abortion. In a country where the majority of abortions take place outside the health system, allowing the use of telemedicine for abortion can help bring legality to users, and expand access to those facing additional barriers in accessing the care they deserve. We outline models for telemedicine provision of abortion in India and discuss the regulatory changes required to make telehealth for abortion a reality in India.
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