Bleeding for life: a perspective of menstruation among slum dwellers of a temple town in coastal Karnataka, India

IntroductionChallenges in the achievement of good menstrual hygiene management in resource poor settings have been well documented and are linked to deleterious effect on women's health. This study was an attempt to assess the vulnerability with regards to menstrual health among the migrant population residing in urban slums in Udupi taluk.MethodsA community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 392 migrant women in reproductive age group using a predesigned 31- item questionnaire.The domains of knowledge, attitude and practice about menstrual hygiene were categorized into poor and adequate knowledge, positive and negative attitude, and poor and good practice by using median as a cut off.ResultsOut of the 392 study subjects who participated in the study 31%,27% and 41% of them had good knowledge, positive attitude and good practice regarding menstrual hygiene respectively. Good knowledge was significantly associated with better standard of living (p < 0.001, OR = 3.612, CI = 2.159–6.042). Attitude was significantly almost five times better in women with more than ten years of schooling as compared to illiterates and school drop outs (p < 0.001, OR = 4.655, CI = 2.360–9.179). With regards to standard of living, adherence to good menstrual hygiene practice was better in women belonging to middle as compared to those of low class. (p = 0.001, OR = 2.730, CI = 1.502–4.962).ConclusionThe findings show an overall poor knowledge, attitude and practice towards menstrual health. This displays an urgent need of conducting health promotional activities to impart appropriate knowledge regarding hygienic practices during menstrual periods and simultaneously address to the misconceptions linked with it.