Menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls in primary schools in Mashuru division, Kajiado county
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Date
2014-08-13
Authors
Korir, Eleen
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Abstract
Globally, approximately 52% of the female population (26% of the total population) is of reproductive age (Sara et al, 2012) and most of these women will menstruate each month for between two and seven days. Menstrual hygiene and management (MHM) is an issue that is insufficiently acknowledged and has not received adequate attention in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and reproductive health sectors in developing countries. The relationship of MHM with and impact on achieving many Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is rarely acknowledged. It is documented that a large number of girls miss school. On average a girl miss 4-5 days of school per month, due to lack of sanitary pads and underwear, combined with inadequate sanitary facilities in their schools (GCN and MOE, 2006). Poor practices coupled with lack of knowledge is responsible for a significant proportion of school absenteeism, seclusion from social activities, illness and infection associated with menstruation among adolescent school girls in developing countries (Water Aid, 2009). The main objective for this study is to assess menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls in Mashuru division, Kajiado County. The specific objectives will be: to establish the level of knowledge of menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls; to identify the menstrual hygiene management practices among adolescent girls; to identify cultural factors influencing menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls and to assess school based interventions on menstrual hygiene management that can be implemented and sustained in Mashuru division. This study will help identify the gaps and recommendations on menstrual hygiene management in schools. A cross-sectional descriptive study design will be conducted and purposive sampling will be used to identify the study area based on specific considerations such as the nomadic lifestyle. Simple random sampling will be used to identify the primary schools in the division. Stratified sampling will be used using classes as strata followed by systematic random sampling to select the adolescent girls to participate in the study. The study will include 313 randomly selected adolescent girls in classes 4-8 from 14 schools that will be selected randomly in Mashuru division. The research instruments that will be employed include interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaires, focus group discussions as well as key informant interviews and observation checklists. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0 will be used during data analysis. Chi-Square will be computed to establish the association between dependent and independent variables and binary regression to identify predictors. Measures of central tendency such as mean, mode and median will be computed. Cross tabulation will be done to establish the relationship between the variables. The level of significance will be defined as p-values less than 0.05. The research findings will be presented using tables, pie charts and bar graphs.