Menstrual Hygiene Management Practice and Associated Factors among Urban and Rural Primary School Adolescent Girls in Gondar City Administration and Gondar Zuriya District Northwest Ethiopia, 2021
Author(s):
Woynareg Kassa Tiruneh* Misganaw Mihiret Kelkay and Hedija Yenus Yeshita
Background: Menstrual hygiene management is the practice done by girls or women through; using a clean material, changing a private way body using water with soap,and having disposal facilities. It is insufficiently acknowledged among adolescent school girls in Ethiopia. Therefore, understanding the level of hygiene management practice and identifying determinant factors is a crucial first step to taking appropriate interventions.
Method: An -institution-based cross-sectional study design was employed among 335 urban adolescent girls from March to April 2021.Study participants were selected by using a multistage stratified sampling technique. Aninterviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The data were entered by using EPI INFO version 7.2 and analyzed by using STATA version 14.1 software. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis with a 95% confidence interval was employed. A P-value< 0.05 was considered as statistically significant and AOR with a 95% confidence interval was considered to show the strength of the association.
Result: Overall, prevalence of menstrual hygiene practice among adolescents’ girls were 66.0% (95% CI: 60.7, 70.9) among urban school girls. urban residence [AOR= 3.41(95% CI: 1.1, 10.58), media exposure for SNP advertisement [AOR=2.43 (95%CI; 1.08, 5.48)], good menstrual knowledge [AOR=3.68 (95% CI: 1.76, 7.69)], female toilet inside locked [AOR=2.66 (95%CI; 1.1, 6.45)], girls who have private room at home [AOR=3.53(95% CI: 1.46, 8.5)], good water accessibility (AOR=3.35(95% CI:(1.62,6.95), gain information from friends [AOR=3.35(95%CI:1.04,10.77)] were found to be significantly associated with good MHP among overall school adolescent girls,
Conclusion: Though the overall prevalence of the study was low.it was relatively better among urban school girls. It shows a significant variation between the urban and rural study groups. Therefore, Implementation of girl friendly WASH services in all schools should be applied, health education should be strengthened, WASH facilities constructed at school levels, free discussion with parents and teachers in order to practice safe MHM.
