Assessment of Knowledge and Practice of Menstrual hygiene among the Schools in rural areas of Kalaburgi North

Abstract

Menstruation is phenomenon unique to all the females menstruation is generally considered as unclean in the Indian society especially in the rural settings.The study was taken to assess the status of Menstrual hygiene elicit the rituals and restrictions common problems during menstruation among adolescent School girls.A six months prospective and community based study was conducted at 10 selected high schools in the rural areas of Kalaburagi north. The pre- test knowledge of the student was assessed by means of menstrual knowledge assessment questionnaires. There after the students were given structured education by giving presentation video and leaflets. One month after the Pre- test at post- test the impact of structured education was re assessed by using the questionnaires. The results revealed that only 43.01%, of the participants, were aware about menstruation before menarche and the most important source of information about menstruation for them who was found to be their mother 64.03%.In response to hygiene questions during pre -test 67.71% said that they were using sanitary pads and 21.03% &10.9% said they use new cloth and old cloth respectively. After counselling significant improvement was observed where 90.4% used sanitary pads & 8.3% rest used cloth, regular hand wash was present in 94.4% subjects of which 96.0% subjects used soap and water for hand washing. Regular cleaning of external genitalia was present in 91.3% subjects. This study concludes that pharmacist intervention educating program helped adolescent girls to maintain proper menstrual hygiene and sanitation during menstruation.