Menstrual Hygiene, Management, and Waste Disposal: Practices and Challenges Faced by Girls/Women of Developing Countries
Open accessAbstract
Menstruation and menstrual practices still face many social, cultural, and religious restrictions which are a big barrier in the path of menstrual hygiene management. In many parts of the country especially in rural areas girls are not prepared and aware about menstruation so they face many difficulties and challenges at home, schools, and work places. While reviewing literature, we found that little, inaccurate, or incomplete knowledge about menstruation is a great hindrance in the path of personal and menstrual hygiene management. Girls and women have very less or no knowledge about reproductive tract infections caused due to ignorance of personal hygiene during menstruation time. In rural areas, women do not have access to sanitary products or they know very little about the types and method of using them or are unable to afford such products due to high cost. So, they mostly rely on reusable cloth pads which they wash and use again. Needs and requirements of the adolescent girls and women are ignored despite the fact that there are major developments in the area of water and sanitation. Women manage menstruation differently when they are at home or outside; at homes, they dispose of menstrual products in domestic wastes and in public toilets and they flush them in the toilets without knowing the consequences of choking. So, there should be a need to educate and make them aware about the environmental pollution and health hazards associated with them. Implementation of modern techniques like incineration can help to reduce the waste. Also, awareness should be created to emphasize the use of reusable sanitary products or the natural sanitary products made from materials like banana fibre, bamboo fibre, sea sponges, water hyacinth, and so on.
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As more women transition to commercial and non-biodegradable products for managing menstruation, latrine fill up and environmental accumulation will be increasingly urgent.
“however as more women transition to commercial and non-biodegradable products for managing menstruation, latrine fill up and environmental accumulation will be increasingly urgent [63, 65, 66].”
From ’It’s like a burden on the head’: Redefining adequate menstrual hygiene management throughout women’s varied life stages in Odisha, India. (2019) · cites this paper as [65]
Environmental impact and threats to latrines and sanitation systems are already a concern.
“Environmental impact and threats to latrines and sanitation systems are already a concern”
From ’It’s like a burden on the head’: Redefining adequate menstrual hygiene management throughout women’s varied life stages in Odisha, India. (2019) · cites this paper as [65]
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- Authors
- Kaur, R., Kaur, K., & Kaur, R.
- Affiliations
- Guru Nanak Dev University (IN)
- Govt. Polytechnic College for Girls, Amritsar, India
- Corresponding author
- Kaur, Rajinder
- Venue
- Journal of Environmental and Public Health
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2018
- Volume
- 2018
- Pages
- 1-9
- ISSN
- 1687-9805 (ISSN-L)
- 1687-9813
- PMC
- PMC5838436
- OpenAlex
- W2790053320
- Cited by
- 430
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 51 · 2025: 58 · 2024: 69 · 2023: 80 · 2022: 74 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 5
- FWCI
- 4.46
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Environmental and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- University Grants Commission
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Menstrual Health and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender Studies and Social Issues
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Keywords
- menstrual hygiene management, menstrual waste disposal, menstrual products, menstrual knowledge, adolescent girls, women's health, rural women, incineration, menstrual taboos, developing countries
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Child, Developing Countries, Female, Humans, Hygiene, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Menstruation, Middle Aged, Refuse Disposal, Women, Waste Management, Young Adult
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