Inadequate menstrual hygiene presents a barrier to women's dignity and health. Recent attention to this marginalised challenge has resulted in the first national assessments of menstrual practices. Intuitively, surveys require women to have had a recent menses to be eligible. This study seeks to determine if there are demographic differences between women who are eligible and ineligible to answer questions about their menstrual hygiene during these assessments. Secondary analyses were undertaken on nationally or state representative data collected by the Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 survey programme across eight countries (Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria, and Uganda). Female respondents were included in the study and compared on whether they had a menstrual period within the past three months and thus were eligible to answer questions regarding menstrual practices. On average, 29% of surveyed women across samples were ineligible to be asked menstrual hygiene questions. Higher levels of education, wealth, and urban residence were associated with higher odds of eligibility. Young and unmarried women were also more likely to be eligible. Demographic differences between eligible and ineligible women were consistent across all countries. Wealthy, urban, and educated women are more likely to be eligible to answer survey questions about menstrual hygiene. While population surveys may be representative of menstruating women, proportions of menstrual hygiene practices reported underrepresent the experiences of more vulnerable groups. These groups are likely to have greater struggles with menstrual hygiene when they are menstruating.
Une mauvaise hygiène menstruelle compromet la santé et la dignité des femmes. L’attention accor-dée récemment à ce problème marginalisé a abouti aux premières évaluations nationales des pratiques menstruelles. Intuitivement, les enquêtes exigent que les femmes aient récemment eu leurs menstrues pour être éligibles à l’enquête. Cette étude souhaite déterminer s’il y a des différences démographiques entre les femmes qui remplissent ou non les conditions pour répondre à des questions sur leur hygiène menstruelle pendant ces évaluations. Des analyses secondaires ont été entreprises sur des données représentatives au niveau national ou de l’État, recueillies par la pla-teforme d’enquête de PMA 2020 (Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020) dans huit pays (Burkina Faso, Éthiopie, Ghana, Inde, Kenya, Niger, Nigéria et Ouganda). Les répondantes ont été incluses dans l’étude et ont indiqué si elles avaient eu leurs menstrues dans les trois derniers mois, condition leur permettant de répondre à des questions sur l’hygiène menstruelle. Des mujeres encuestadas de las muestras eran inelegibles para contestar preguntas sobre la higiene men-strual. Mayores niveles de escolaridad, riqueza y residencia urbana se asociaron con mayor probabilidad de elegibilidad. Las mujeres jóvenes y solteras también eran más propensas a ser elegibles. Las diferencias demográficas entre las mujeres elegibles y aquéllas inelegibles coincidieron en todos los países. Las mujeres ricas, urbanas y educadas son más propensas a ser elegibles para contestar las preguntas de la encuesta sobre higiene menstrual. Aunque las encuestas poblacionales pueden ser representativas de las mujeres menstruantes, los porcentajes de prácticas de higiene menstrual reportados subrepresentan las experiencias de grupos más vulnerables. Es probable que estos grupos tengan más dificultades con la higiene menstrual durante la menstruación.
Keywords: menstrual health; menstrual hygiene; population survey; survey; women’s health.