Decomposing the rural-urban gap in hygienic material use during menstruation among adolescent women in India.

ABSTRACT: The use of hygienic materials (sanitary napkins, locally prepared napkins, tampons, and menstrual cups) during menstruation among adolescent women in India has improved over the years, yet a significant rural-urban gap in the usage persists at the national level. This study investigates how this rural-urabn gap varies across different states and union territories (UTs) of India and uses Fairlie decomposition to quantify the contribution of various factors to this gap. The study uses data on 114,805 adolescent women (aged 15-19 years) from the fifith round of National Family Health Survey (2019-21). The utilization of hygienic materials during menstruation among adolescent women in rural India stood at 43%, whereas in urban areas, it was 68%, indicating a significant 25 percentage point (pp

SUBMITTER: Chakrabarty M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10725416 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature