Assessment of Menstrual Hygiene Management Among Karamojong Adolescent Girls in Rupa Sub-County, Moroto District

Abstract
Menstrual hygiene and management is insufficiently acknowledged since it has not received adequate attention, in most cases because it is considered a private issue that's rarely open to discussion making it difficult for girls to manage their periods. This leaves them at high risk of contracting diseases related to poor menstrual management. A cross-sectional study involving both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques was conducted in Rupa Sub-County, Moroto district between August and October 2016 and a total of 133 adolescent girls were interviewed. Descriptive statistics, Chi-square and Odd ratios tests were used for analysis to assess the menstrual hygiene management. Mean age of respondents was 17.03±2.121 years; respondents going to school were 5.9 times more likely to practice safe menstrual hygiene management (p-value 0.000), half (50.4%) of the adolescent girls had no education (p-value 0.000), 38.3 % of the girls did not know what to do during menstruation (p-value 0.000), respondents who agreed that it is ideal to bath at least twice during menstruation were 2.9 times more likely to practice safe menstrual hygiene management (p-vaue-0.024), less than half (28.6%) of the respondents were not sure whether it is hygienic to use material for less than 6 hours during menstruation (p-value 0.000), while slightly three quarters (61.7%) of adolescent girls used old rags during menstruation, 48.1% of the respondents agreed that there are cultural factors attached to menstrual hygiene management (0.000). Menstrual hygiene management is still a very big challenge among adolescent girls in Moroto district; various factors were identified to affect menstrual behaviors most influential being lack of adequate knowledge, Socio-economic status of participants and cultural factors.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Elzy, K. E., Atuhairwe, C., Alege, J. B., Akugizibwe, P., Serugo, I., Kiconco, S., & Komuhangi, A. (2017). Assessment of Menstrual Hygiene Management Among Karamojong Adolescent Girls in Rupa Sub-County, Moroto District. Assessment, 8(24).