Menstrual Hygiene Management among Nepalese Adolescent Schoolgirls: Results from a cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background Adolescent schoolgirls in Nepal lack adequate support to manage menstruation. Little studies have been conducted to date to learn how menstruation affects daily lives of adolescents and how they were managing it. Menstruation also comes costly in rural Nepal and the majority of them do not have capacity to afford menstrual products due to high price. Objective The main objective of this study is to assess about menstrual challenges among adolescent girls of rural Nepal. Method We deployed descriptive, cross-sectional study to analyze adolescent girls' experience of menstruation from purposively selected schools in Kavre and Sindhupalanchowk districts of rural Nepal. The data was collected from May to July 2024 among adolescent girls using semi-structured questionnaire of grade 8 and 9. The adolescents were questioned regarding their own experiences with menstruation. The interview included household related information, water, sanitation and hygiene practices, self-menstruation practices and management, challenges they had been facing, and sociocultural taboos about menstruation. Result All schools included in this study were government schools. 38% of an adolescents reported of starting their menstruation at an age of 12 years. 39% of the respondents reported of having an ability to challenge the existing social taboos relating to menstruation. Above 60% uses sanitary pads as a menstrual product and for the disposal of these products, 50% respondents reported of throwing them in the dustbin followed by burying (21%) and burning (16%). And 10% of the respondents reported of throwing the used menstrual products into Indrawati river. Majority of respondents reported of not being able to visit temples and performing any religious visits during menstruation and the main reasons behind was family prohibition and fear of divine retribution. Conclusion Access to management materials of menstruation is problematic in the surveyed schools especially in the rural areas where almost half of the girls do not have access to sanitary pads and they resort to the use of cloth. Lack of affordability for purchasing sanitary napkins were the most crucial predictors of menstrual hygiene management. The Government of Nepal should take an initiative to provide schoolgirls with sanitary pads in order to improve menstrual hygiene management in all across schools within Nepal, particularly in rural areas.