Practice of Menstrual Hygiene and Associated Factors among Female Mehalmeda High School Students in Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Introduction: Menstrual hygiene management has not received adequate attention in the reproductive health sectors in developing countries. In Africa the practice of menstrual hygiene management is still poor and the issue is under estimated. Due to poor menstrual hygiene management the adolescent girls are exposed for reproductive tract infection, school absenteeism and increase school dropout rate. Objectives: To assess the practice of menstrual hygiene and associated factors among female Mehalmeda high school students in Amhara regional state, Ethiopia. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study design conducted from April 01 to 30/2013 using multistage sampling technique. Four hundred ninety two study participants were selected and structured pretested questionnaire was used to collect information from the participants. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16 Crude odds ratio (COR) and Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) was used to identify the association with p value <0.05 as significant. Result: Majority of the participants (90.9%) practiced good menstrual hygiene and had high level of menstrual hygiene knowledge. After bivariate analysis, the significant factors of menstrual hygiene were entered in to the multivariate model. It revealed that good menstrual hygiene was practiced among those participants who had high level of knowledge about menstrual hygiene (OR 5.78: 95% CI, 2.15-15.51), teachers as source of information (OR 7.64: 95% CI, 2.16-27.03) and access for water (OR 6.5: 95% CI, 2.08-20.32) and urban place of residence (OR 2.38: 95% CI, 1.137, 3.05). Conclusion: Majority of the participants had high level of menstrual hygiene knowledge practiced good menstrual hygiene. Different factors affect the practice of menstrual hygiene such as source of information, access of water and knowledge about menstrual hygiene.

Assessment of knowledge and practice of menstrual hygiene among high school girls in Western Ethiopia

“…This difference could be due to minimal communication in families about menstruation and menstrual hygiene issues. Contrary to the findings of this study, high knowledge about menstrual hygiene was obtained in a study done in Amhara, northern Ethiopia, which was 90.7 % [17], possibly due to information provided about menstruation and menstrual hygiene by schools and families.…”

“…The finding of this study was lower than studies conducted in Ethiopia and North western Nigeria which were 90.9 % and 88.7 %, respectively [15, 17]. Comparatively, lower level of practice of menstrual hygiene was recorded from similar study conducted on Gujjar girls it was indicated that only 3.1 % of the study participants practice good menstrual hygiene [24].…”

Menstrual hygiene management practice and factors affecting it among high school females in Ambo City, Oromia state, Ethiopia, 2018: A cross-sectional mixed method

“…The majority (46.3%) of the study participants reported that the main source of information about menses was their mother, which is similar to a study conducted in Nekemte, west Oromia and in sokota, Nigeria (14,17). But, it is, in contrast, to study in the Northern part of Ethiopia by…”

“…Population council office in which the majority (40%) of females received information about menses from their teacher instead of mothers(9%) (17). This difference is most probably because of cultural differences.…”

“…Different works of literature used different criteria to classify menstrual hygiene management as good or poor, or as safe or unsafe. For instance, many studies in different parts of Ethiopia and African Countries used item questions related to practice and the mean score was taken as the cutoff point for classifying MHM status(16)(17).…”