Menstrual Hygiene Practices and Reproductive Tract Infection Among Slum Dwelling Adolescent Girls Aged 15-19 Years of Dibrugarh Town, Assam

Abstract

BACKGROUND Menstruation is a natural physiological process linked with several misconceptions and practices having crucial role for health and dignity of girls and women. Hygiene-related practices increases vulnerability to reproductive tract infections. Adolescent girls dwelling in slums are vulnerable to poor reproductive health due to lack of awareness about reproductive health. Keeping in view the above, study has been undertaken with the following aim and objective. The aim of the study is to assess the menstrual hygiene practices and reproductive tract infection among slum dwelling adolescent girls aged 15-19 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted for 1 year from June 2014 to May 2015 covering 210 adolescent girls aged 15-19 years living in the slums of Dibrugarh Town, Assam. An interview using a predesigned and pretested format conducted by house to house survey. For analysis, mean, standard deviation and proportions were calculated, Chi-square and Fischer's exact test was done to see the association. RESULTS Mean age of girls was (16.57 ± 1.48) years and mean age of menarche was (12.73 ± 1.44) years. Awareness about menstruation was 27.1% prior to attainment of menarche. Rate of sanitary napkins use was 68.6% and 53.2% girls cleaned external genitalia >2 times per day. Regarding cultural practices of restriction, 100% girls did not attend any religious occasions during menstruation. Prevalence of reproductive tract infection was 43.3%, which was significantly more among girls using homemade reusable pad and washing external genitalia ≤2 times per day during menstruation. CONCLUSION There is a need to improve menstrual hygiene practices amongst adolescent girls. Awareness building on menstrual hygiene and other factors like traditional beliefs and practices needs to be addressed.

Social and Cultural Beliefs Associated With Menarche: A Case Study Among the Ahom

“…In the present study, a large portion of the subjects uses soap to wash out the genital area during menstruation. However, based on information from Assam (Barman et al, 2017); Andhra Pradesh (Ravish et al,2018), Udaipur, Rajasthan (Tundia and Thakur, 2018), and many others reported that females prefer to use only water as a source to wash out their genital areas.…”

Menstrual health and hygiene among Juang women: a particularly vulnerable tribal group in Odisha, India

“…A past study also found that taboos and embarrassment associated with menstruation make it difficult for women to wash and dry menstrual absorbents in a sanitary manner [33]. Such unhygienic and improper menstrual practices can increase the risk of reproductive tract infection and other health hazards [34,35]. Previous research has also raised concerns about inadequate washing and drying of menstrual absorbents [5,6,21].…”

Menstrual hygiene practices and related infections among adolescent girls of an urban poor locality

“…24 A community-based cross-sectional study on menstrual hygiene practices and reproductive tract infection among slum dwelling adolescent girls aged 15-19 years of Dibrugarh town, Assam conducted among 210 adolescent girls aged 15-19 years showed that 22.38% of study subjects had excessive vaginal discharge and 17.1% had vaginal puritis. 25 Likewise, a cross sectional study on the prevalence of reproductive health problems of school going adolescent girls of Kashmir valley conducted among 428 adolescent girls of age group 12 to 18 years showed that 39.5% had excessive vaginal discharge, 21.13% had vulval pruritis, 12.89% had lower abdominal pain and 6.18% had burning micturition. 26 Similarly a study on prevalence of reproductive tract infections among adolescent girls in rural area of Raigad district, Maharashtra including 100 adolescent girls in the age group of 10-19 years showed that 22% had excessive vaginal discharge, 23% had itching…”