Menstrual Hygiene is one of the important aspects of adolescent health which is often ignored particularly in developing countries such as India. In this regard onset of menstruation is often a period when adolescent girls don’t have any knowledge about the healthy practices during menstruation. Many studies have reported that adolescent girls particularly from developing world have inadequate knowledge of maintenance of hygiene during menstruation. Many young girls don’t have luxury of using sanitary pads and are forced to use cloth and then wash it and reuse it during next cycle thus making them vulnerable for genitourinary tract infection which may sometimes be serious and life threatening such as toxic shock syndrome. Proper knowledge about hygienic menstrual practices needs to be imparted to adolescent girls by mothers, nurse, nurse educator, nurse researcher and nurse administrator.

We undertook this literature review with an aim to understand level of awareness about menstrual hygiene in Indian adolescent girls.

Keywords: Adolescents, Menstrual Hygiene, Genitourinary infections, Nursing. 

1. Garg S, Anand T. Menstruation related myths in India: strategies for combating it. J Family Med Prim Care. 2015;4(2):184–186. doi:10.4103/2249-4863.154627
2. Casey BJ, Duhoux S, Malter Cohen M. Adolescence: what do transmission, transition, and translation have to do with it?. Neuron. 2010;67(5):749–760.
3. Coast E, Lattof SR, Strong J. Puberty and menstruation knowledge among young adolescents in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review. Int J Public Health. 2019;64(2):293–304.
4. Sooki Z, Shariati M, Chaman R, Khosravi A, Effatpanah M, Keramat A. The Role of Mother in Informing Girls About Puberty: A Meta-Analysis Study. Nurs Midwifery Stud. 2016;5(1):e30360. Published 2016 Feb 20.
5. Salam RA, Das JK, Lassi ZS, Bhutta ZA. Adolescent Health Interventions: Conclusions, Evidence Gaps, and Research Priorities. J Adolesc Health. 2016;59(4S):S88–S92.
6. Kumari S, Sheoran P, Siddiqui A. Menstrual hygiene: knowledge and practice among adolescent girls in orphanage. Int J Community Med Public Health 2018;5:3987-90.
7. Tarhane S,Kasulkar A. Awareness of adolescent girls regarding menstruation and practices during menstrual cycle. Panacea Journal of Medical Science, January –April,2015:5(1);29-32.
8. Dasgupta, A. and M. Sarkar, Menstrual hygiene: How hygienic is the adolescent girl?2008.
9. Drakshayani Devi K, Venkata Ramaiah P. A study on menstrual hygiene among rural adolescent girls. Indian J Med Sci. 1994 Jun;48(6):139-43. PubMed PMID: 7927585.
10. Deshpande TN, Patil SS, Gharai SB, Patil S R, Durgawale P M. Menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls – A study from urban slum area. J Family Med Prim Care 2018;7:1439-45
11. Kapoor G, Kumar D. Menstrual hygiene: knowledge and practice among adolescent school girls in rural settings. Int J Reprod Contracept Obstet Gynecol 2017;6:959-62.
12. Phani Madhavi KV, Paruvu K. Menstrual hygiene and practices among adolescent girls in rural Visakhapatnam: a cross-sectional study. Int J Community Med Public Health 2019;6:432-6.
13. Hema Priya S, Partha N, Seetharaman N, Ramya MR., Nishanthini N, Lokeshmaran A. A study of menstrual hygiene and related personal hygiene practices among adolescent girls in rural Puducherry. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017;4(7):2348-55.
14. Ghimire S. Knowledge regarding menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. Int J Res Med Sci 2017;5:3426-30.
15. Kaur R, Kaur K, Kaur R. Menstrual Hygiene, Management, and Waste Disposal: Practices and Challenges Faced by Girls/Women of Developing Countries. J Environ Public Health. 2018; 2018:1730964. Published 2018 Feb 20.
16. Rokade HG, Kumavat AP. Study of menstrual pattern and menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent girls. Natl J Community Med. 2016;7:398–403.
17. Prajapati J, Patel R. Menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls: A cross sectional study in urban community of Gandhinagar. JMR. 2015;1:122–5
18. Ramachandra K, Gilyaru S, Eregowda A, Yathiraja S. A study on knowledge and practices regarding menstrual hygiene among urban adolescent girls. Int J Contemp Pediatr 2016;3:142-5.
19. Kalita D, Pathak G. Study on hygiene practice among adolescent girls with special reference to menstrual hygiene in Barpeta, Assam. Int J Med Sci Public Health. 2019; 8(9): 759-764.
20. Sharma R, Negi S, Kunj D, Sharma V, . V. Menstrual hygiene among adolescent girls. Indian J Community Health [Internet]. 30Sep.2015 [cited 5Oct.2019];27(3):376-80.

Sudhadevi. M

Research Scholar, College of Nursing, Pondicherry Institute of Medical Sciences, Pondicherry, India