Menstruation starts a new phase in every woman’s life and indicates the initiation of the reproductive period. However, this milestone becomes distinctly painful for women with a lack of awareness and availability of hygienic menstrual products. At many places, the taboo attached to menstruation further adds to this suffering. This scenario is common in the slum communities of developing countries. This study was conducted in the context of urban slums of Delhi, with an aim to understand and assess women’s problems, perceptions, and practices of menstrual hygiene management. It also studied the practices around different absorbents (cloth and pad) and compared the practices around absorbents amongst different user groups (cloth users, pad users, and both). For the study, 1,475 women from 14 urban slums of Delhi were surveyed. The findings of the study indicated the lack of awareness amongst the women regarding menstruation & hygiene practices. Further, affordability, availability, and comfort came out as the key factors influencing the choice of studied absorbents, with affordability being the most important factor. Based on the study’s findings, significant implications for public policymakers and marketers were drawn.

1. Adinma, E. D., & Adinma, J. I. (2008). Perceptions and practices on menstruation amongst Nigerian secondary school girls. African Journal of Reproductive Health, 12(1), 74–83. https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC122010
2. Biran, A., Curtis, V., Gautam, O., & Greenland, K. (2012). Background paper on measuring WASH and food hygiene practices : Definition of goals to be tackled post 2015 by the joint monitoring programme. Department of Public Health and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.564.9160&rep=rep1&type=pdf
3. Dey, T., & Sharma, L. S. (2019). Determinants of purchasing selected FMCG products in India: Evidence from Agartala City. Indian Journal of Marketing, 49(10), 42–57. https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom/2019/v49/i10/147564
4. Dudeja, P., Sindhu, A., Shankar, P., & Gadekar, T. (2016). A cross-sectional study to assess awareness about menstruation in adolescent girls of an urban slum in western Maharashtra. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 30(4), 20160079. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2016-0079
5. Garg, R., Goyal, S., & Gupta, S. (2012). India moves towards menstrual hygiene: Subsidized sanitary napkins for rural adolescent girls — Issues and challenges. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 16, 767–774. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-011-0798-5
6. Gosavi, S. V., Almale, B., Gujarathi, A., Vankundre, A., Dhakane, S., Patil, R., Mahale, M., Borade, P., & Pawar, S. (2015). Awareness and practices about menstrual hygiene and its impact among migrant adolescent girls of Dera: A community based cross-sectional study from Nashik (Maharashtra). International Journal of Scientific Reports, 1(2), 123–126. https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/issn.2454-2156.IntJSciRep20150219
7. Kansal, S., Singh, S., & Kumar, A. (2016). Menstrual hygiene practices in context of schooling: A community study among rural adolescent girls in Varanasi. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 41(1), 39–44. https://dx.doi.org/10.4103%2F0970-0218.170964
8. Kumar, D., Goel, N. K., Puri, S., Pathak, R., Sarpal, S. S., Gupta, S., & Arora, S. (2013). Menstrual pattern among unmarried women from Northern India. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, 7(9), 1926–1929. https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2013/6702.3359
9. Mathiyalagen, P., Peramasamy, B., Vasudevan, K., Basu, M., Cherian, J., & Sundar, B. (2017). A descriptive cross-sectional study on menstrual hygiene and perceived reproductive morbidity among adolescent girls in a union territory, India. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 6(2), 360–365. DOI: 10.4103/2249-4863.220031
10. Nair, P., Grover, V. L., & Kannan, A. T. (2007). Awareness and practices of menstruation and pubertal changes amongst unmarried female adolescents in a rural area of East Delhi. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 32(2), 156–157. https://dx.doi.org/10.4103%2F0970-0218.35668
11. Rana, B., Prajapati, A., Sonaliya, K. N., Shah, V., Patel, M., & Solanki, A. (2015). An assessment of menstrual hygiene practices amongst adolescent females at Kheda District of Gujarat State, India. Healthline, 6(1), 23–29.
12. Sapkota, D., Sharma, D., Pokharel, H. P., Budhathoki, S. S., & Khanal, V. K. (2013). Knowledge and practices regarding menstruation among school going adolescents of rural Nepal. Journal of Kathmandu Medical College, 2(3), 122–128. https://doi.org/10.3126/jkmc.v2i3.9962
13. Shah, S. P., Nair, R., Shah, P. P., Modi, D. K., Desai, S. A., & Desai, L. (2013). Improving quality of life with new menstrual hygiene practices among adolescent tribal girls in rural Gujarat, India. Reproductive Health Matters, 21(41), 205–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(13)41691-9
14. Shanbhag, D., Shilpa, R., D’Souza, N., Josephine, P., Singh, J., & Goud, B. R. (2012). Perceptions regarding menstruation and practices during menstrual cycles among high school going adolescent girls in resource limited settings around Bangalore city, Karnataka, India. International Journal of Collaborative Research on Internal Medicine and Public Health, 4(7), 1353–1362.
15. Singh, A. (2006). Place of menstruation in the reproductive lives of women of rural North India. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 31(1), 10–14. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.54923
16. Singh, R., & Sunaina. (2005). Management of healthcare service sector–A study of primary health centres. Indian Journal of Marketing, 35(12), 31–38. http://indianjournalofmarketing.com/index.php/ijom/article/view/34266
17. Swaminathan, T. N., & Viswanathan, P. K. (2016). Social marketing - Predicting the impact of government aided health insurance project in rural Tamil Nadu. Indian Journal of Marketing, 46(9), 11–23. https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom/2016/v46/i9/101038
18. Thakre, S. B., Thakre, S. S., Reddy, M., Pathak, K., & Ughade, S. (2011). Menstrual hygiene: Knowledge and practice among adolescent school girls of Saoner, Nagpur District. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, 5(5), 1027–1033.
19. Thakur, H., Aronsson, A., Bansode, S., Stalsby Lundborg, C., Dalvie, S., & Faxelid, E. (2014). Knowledge, practices, and restrictions related to menstruation among young women from low socioeconomic community in Mumbai, India. Frontiers in Public Health, 2(July), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2014.00072
20. WHO & UNICEF. (2012). Consultation on draft long list of goal, target and indicator options for future global monitoring of water, sanitation and hygiene. https://washdata.org/report/jmp-2012-post2015-consultation
21. Van Eijk, A. M., Sivakami, M., Thakkar, M. B., Bauman, A., Laserson, K. F., Coates, S., & Phillips-Howard, P. A. (2016). Menstrual hygiene management among adolescent girls in India: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMJ Open, 6(3), e010290. http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010290
22. Wilson, E., Reeve, J., & Pitt, A. (2014). Education. Period. Developing an acceptable and replicable menstrual hygiene intervention. Development in Practice, 24(1), 63–80. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2014.867305