STUDY OF MENSTRUAL PRACTICES IN INDIA – ACQUAINTANCE WITH MENSTRUAL CUPS

Abstract

Background: All those who menstruate need the awareness and access to their choice of menstrual materials that are safe, comfortable and support sustainable production and use. It is necessary to address menstruation to understand the need to take subsequent steps for a woman who menstruates for a period of 40 years of her life. Method: A cross-sectional, standardized questionnaire based survey method was used to collect information from a sample size of 500 people after prior institutional ethical clearance. Statistical knowledge was applied using Microsoft Excel and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).  An aggregate was made where socio-demographic and menstrual characteristics were compared. Insight was made to acknowledge female genital health concerns through scholarly articles available on the web. Results: 2.2% of sexually active women use menstrual cups. 3.7% of them prefer to use sanitary napkins along with menstrual cups only for gym and swimming. They reported cups were more comfortable. Other reasons for preference were they are environment friendly and reusable. However, 96.4% of sexually inactive women use sanitary napkins. The reasons for them not using cups were found to be (in descending order): not knowing how to use, want to use but afraid, not available in local medical stores and cultural beliefs. Usage of cloth still made it to 0.8%. Keywords: Menstruation, menstrual cups, environment friendly