Menstrual health and hygiene practices of adolescent girls attending school in rural parts of South India and its effect on school attendance in the year 2020: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Menstruation is a normal and natural process that occurs during a female’s reproductive years, misperceptions surrounding menstruation, which can negatively impact the mental, emotional, and physical health of adolescent girls, as well as their academic performance. Our objective was to describe the menstruation practises among rural school going adolescent girls and its effect on school attendance. Materials and Methods: In the present descriptive and cross-sectional study included 495 students from government and government-aided schools a total of 7 schools. Results: Almost 90% of the girls had regular periods, 59% of these girls’ attained menarche at the age of 13 – 15 years. Out of these students 9% of them skip school frequently during menstrual period due to pain, 3% skip school due to excessive bleeding, and the rest skip school during this period either due to parent’s beliefs (1%) or because they think the sanitation facility at their school is not adequate (0.2%). Conclusion: The mean age of menarche in our study was 12.6, on an average the girls had 35 days of periods, with 5 days of menses, close to 99% of the girls used sanitary pads but most of them did not obtain it from schools, and 13% of girls had been absent often during their menstrual period. Keywords: age of menarche, reproductive health, menstrual health, menstrual hygiene, school going adolescent girls