Menstrual hygiene management practices among primary school girls from a pastoralist community in Kenya: a cross sectional survey

INTRODUCTION: pubescent girls from developing countries are confronted with diverse menstrual hygiene management (MHM) challenges, especially at school. Girls from rural pastoralist communities experience insurmountable MHM barriers. Inadequate coping strategies adopted result in sub-optimal school performance, absenteeism and physical problems. We conducted a study to assess MHM practices among primary school girls from a pastoralist community in Kenya. METHODS: a cross sectional survey was done among primary school girls in Kajiado County, Kenya. Accent was sought. We administered structured questionnaires which sought information on socio-demographics, knowledge, perceptions and practices. RESULTS: we enrolled 320 girls; with mean age of 14.9 years. Their parents were mostly (69.4%) self-employed pastoralists. Good menstruation knowledge was observed in 51.6%, while 45.5% reported diverse perceptions about menstruation. Majority, (80.9%) used sanitary towels as absorbents, but 40.3% delayed changing by > 6 hours. Poor MHM practices were documented in 28.8% and 32.2% kept the issue secret. Factors associated with poor MHM practices on univariable analysis were age (p=0.016), religion (p=0.037), non-discussions (p=0.001), lack of sanitary pads (p<0.0001), lack of latrine privacy (p=0.031), lack of water (p=0.001) and teasing by boys (p=0.016). On logistic regression, factors that independently influenced MHM practices were inadequate latrine privacy (p=0.031) and fear of teasing by boys (p=0.016). CONCLUSION: a third of pubescent pastoralist girls had poor MHM practices largely determined by inadequate latrine privacy and fear of teasing by boys.