MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENT-KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, PRACTICES AMONG ADOLESCENT AND YOUNG ADULT GIRLS IN AN URBAN-BASED DEGREE COLLEGE

Abstract

Background: Menstruation marks the beginning of the reproductive life of a girl. A poor menstrual understanding and its unhealthy practices may increase the risk of reproductive infections, urinary tract infections and even cancer.
Objectives: To study the knowledge and attitude towards menstruation among adolescent girls so that it can be then taken as a background for designing necessary interventions in the community.
Methods: This was a college-based descriptive cross-sectional study carried out on Google forms with self-administered pre-tested questionnaire. Statistical Analysis: IBM SPSS 26th version was used to do statistical analysis and a pvalue of less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: Good number of students (80%) had adequate knowledge about menstruation and 82% of the students were practicing menstrual hygiene properly.
Conclusion: Overall understanding of menstruation was good, and the MHM practices of our participants scored highly. Improved public health knowledge, Psycho-social/medical support, and WASH infrastructure with freely available menstrual products could lead to more effective MHM practices among female college students