Exclusive use of hygienic menstrual absorbents among rural adolescent women in India: A geospatial analysis

Singh, Aditya; Chakrabarty, Mahashweta; Chowdhury, Sourav; Singh, Shivani

doi:10.1016/j.cegh.2022.101116

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 20 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This category was coded as ‘0’. This variable has been defined in this way in many previous studies in India [ 16 , 18 , 26 , 30 , 32 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Yet, no study in India has examined how the use of hygienic methods varies among adolescent women in rural India using a nationally representative sample. The review of previous literature also reveals that sub-national geographical disparities in the use of hygienic methods among adolescent women in rural India have remained unexplored [ 30 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent women in rural India: a cross-sectional study

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Exclusive use of hygienic methods (sanitary napkins, locally prepared napkins, tampons, and menstrual cups) to prevent the visibility of bloodstains during menstruation is still considerably low among adolescent women in rural India. However, no prior research has explored the prevalence and determinants of exclusive hygienic methods among rural Indian adolescent women. To address this gap, this study examines the factors affecting adolescent women’s exclusive use of hygienic methods in rural India. Additionally, this study explores state- and district-level geographical disparities in the exclusive use of hygienic methods among adolescent women in rural India. Methods Information on 95,551 adolescent women from rural India from the latest round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) was analyzed. Bivariate statistics and multilevel logistic regression analysis were used to assess the Individual- and community-level factors associated with exclusive use of hygienic methods among adolescent women in rural India. Choropleth maps were used to discern the geographical disparities in the exclusive use of hygienic methods. Results In rural India, only 42% of adolescent women exclusively used hygienic methods, with substantial geographic disparities at the state and district levels. At the state level, the exclusive use of hygienic methods varied from 23% in Uttar Pradesh to 85% in Tamil Nadu. Even greater variation was observed at the district level. There was a clear north-south divide in the exclusive use of hygienic methods among adolescent women in rural India. The results of multilevel logistic regression indicated a considerable amount of variation in the exclusive use of hygienic methods at community level which further reduced when controlled for individual and community-level factors. Rural Indian adolescent women with higher education (AOR:3.20, 95% CI: 2.81–3.64), from general category (AOR: 1.14, 95% CI: 1.07–1.21), with medium mass media exposure (AOR: 1.43, 95% CI: 1.35–1.51), and from richest wealth quintile (AOR: 3.98, 95% CI: 3.69–4.30) were more likely to use hygienic methods exclusively. Conclusion Wide differential across biodemographic and socioeconomic groups, and substantial geographic disparities at state- and district-level in the exclusive use of hygienic methods suggests a need to adopt context-specific interventions for adolescent women in rural India. Distribution of subsidized or free menstrual hygiene methods to disadvantaged adolescent women, and in the low-prevalence districts may increase the level of exclusive use of hygienic methods remarkably.

show abstract

“…This category was coded as ‘0’. This variable has been defined in this way in many previous studies in India [ 16 , 18 , 26 , 30 , 32 ].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent women in rural India: a cross-sectional study

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A number of studies in the recent past have attempted to understand the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding hygienic materials of protection during menstruation among adolescent girls in urban India [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. It is reported that there are considerable differences in urban women's choice of menstrual absorbents based on socioeconomic and biodemographic variables in India [21,[25][26][27][28][29][30]. However, most of these studies are limited in their geographical scope.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wealth-based inequality in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation among young women in urban India

et al. 2022

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background The exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation (sanitary napkins, locally made napkins, tampons, and menstrual cups) among urban women in India has been increasing over time. However, little is known about the wealth-based disparity in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation among these women. This study, therefore, measures wealth-based inequality in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation among urban women in India. Furthermore, the measured inequality is decomposed to unravel its contributing factors. Data and methods Using data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019–21), we calculated the Erreygers normalized concentration index (CI) for India and each of its states to measure wealth-based inequality in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation among women in urban India. Further, we decomposed the Erreygers CI to estimate the relative contribution of covariates to wealth-based inequality in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation. The analysis included 54,561 urban women aged 15–24 from 28 states and eight union territories of India. Results The Erreygers CI value of 0.302 indicated a pro-rich inequality in the exclusive use of hygienic materials among urban women in India. While all the states and UTs showed pro-rich inequality, the CI varied considerably across the country. Among the bigger states, the inequality was highest in Madhya Pradesh (CI: 0.45), Assam (CI: 0.44), Bihar (CI: 0.41), and West Bengal (CI: 0.37) and the lowest in the south Indian states of Tamil Nadu (CI: 0.10), Andhra Pradesh (CI: 0.15), Telangana (CI: 0.15), and Kerala (CI: 0.20). Erreygers decomposition revealed that wealth-based inequality in women’s education and mass media exposure contributed almost 80% of the wealth-based inequality in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation among urban women in India. Conclusion Substantial pro-rich inequality in the exclusive use of hygienic materials suggests that the policies and program initiatives should prioritize reaching out to poor women to increase the overall rate of exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation in urban India.

show abstract

“…There were seven options for response: cloth, sanitary napkins, locally made napkins, tampons, menstrual cups, nothing, and others. On the basis of these responses, we created a binary outcome variable titled ‘exclusive use of hygienic materials’, in which women using materials such as sanitary napkins, locally made napkins, tampons, and menstrual cups were coded as “1”; and those using non-hygienic and reusable materials such as cloths, both hygienic and non-hygienic materials, or not using any form of menstrual materials were coded as “0” ( Anand, Singh & Unisa, 2015 ; Ram et al, 2020 ; Vishwakarma, Puri & Sharma, 2020 ; Roy et al, 2021 ; Singh et al, 2022a ; Singh et al, 2022c ; Singh et al, 2022b ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial heterogeneity in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation among women in urban India

Singh¹,

Chakrabarty²

2023

PeerJ

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Menstrual hygiene is essential for women to live with dignity. However, a large proportion of Indian women still suffer from unhygienic menstrual practices leading to reproductive tract infections. To understand the socioeconomic and bio-demographic determinants of menstrual hygiene practices, various national or local level studies have been conducted in India and around the world, however, no previous study has tried to understand the spatial heterogeneity across Indian districts in the use of hygienic materials among young urban women. Methods This study used data from 54,561 urban women aged 15–24 from the National Family Health Survey-5. Global Moran’s I was applied to assess the degree of spatial autocorrelation and cluster and outlier analyses to locate hot-spots and clod-spots in the exclusive use of hygienic materials across the districts. Ordinary least square, spatial lag, and error models were used to identify determinants of exclusive use of hygienic materials. Results Approximately 66.8% of urban women exclusively use of hygienic materials which varied across districts. Global Moran’s I of 0.46 indicated positive spatial autocorrelation in the outcome. Cluster and outlier analysis revealed cold-spots in central Indian districts and hotspots in south Indian districts. Results of spatial error model identified women’s years of schooling, marital status, social group, and household wealth were major determinants of the exclusive use of hygienic materials among urban women across Indian districts. Conclusion Substantial spatial heterogeneity in the outcome among urban women in India suggests the need to design targeted and context-specific behavioural interventions and programs for women in urban India.

show abstract

Exclusive use of hygienic menstrual absorbents among rural adolescent women in India: A geospatial analysis

Cited by 11 publications

References 20 publications

Menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent women in rural India: a cross-sectional study

Menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent women in rural India: a cross-sectional study

Wealth-based inequality in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation among young women in urban India

Spatial heterogeneity in the exclusive use of hygienic materials during menstruation among women in urban India

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About