Menstrual hygiene practices: Is it practically impractical?

Background: Menstruation is the physiological process, but its physiology and nature are very poorly understood among the female population due to many sociocultural factors which make them to adapt certain practices unknowingly whether it is correct or false. This study was done with the objectives of exploring the menstrual practices followed among urban and rural female population. Materials and Methods: This study was done as a community based – cross-sectional study at the outskirts of Chennai, among the randomly selected females in the reproductive age (15-44) group from both rural and urban field practice areas using questionnaire and interview method. The results were expressed in percentages, and appropriate test of significance was performed. Results: Approximately, a total of 212 from the rural area and 206 from urban slum were randomly selected for the study of which 9% (19) from rural and 5.3% (11) not aware of sanitary pads that can be used during menstruation. Among the study participants, 42.5% (90) of rural and 40.3% (83) of urban were unaware from which organ menstruation is from. The prevalence of better menstrual hygienic practices using the menstrual hygiene index was found to be 63.6% (131) in urban slum and 35% (75) in a rural area which was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.0001). Conclusion: Our study has revealed that most of the females are still unaware menstrual hygienic practices which suggest that appropriate health promotive measures to be implemented for their reproductive well-being.