Reproductive health status of adolescent slum girls, residing in the urban slums of Cuttack City, Odisha

Objectives: Reproductive tract infection/sexually transmitted infection (RTI/STI) has become a silent epidemic that devastates women’s life. Improper maintenance of menstrual hygiene is one of the important causes of ascending infection of genital tract leading to RTI. The objectives of the study were to assess reproductive health status and menstrual hygiene practices of adolescent girls residing in the urban slums. Material and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study conducted among adolescent girls residing in urban slums situated under field training area of the Department of Community Medicine, S.C.B. Medical College, Cuttack, Odisha. From among 10 Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) under this field training area, four AWCs having relatively more slum population were selected for the study. A total of 277 adolescent girls were studied who had attended menarche. Pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to collect information regarding the reproductive health status of adolescent girls. Results: Among the 277 adolescent slum girls, 116 (41.9%) had no complaint related to menstruation and reproductive health. Most of the adolescent girls had dysmenorrhea followed by irregular cycles, menorrhagia, and scanty menstruation. As per syndromic approach, 15.2% of adolescent girls had symptoms of RTI/STI. Only 36.8% of girls were using sanitary napkins. Conclusion: More than half of adolescent slum girls had one or more menstrual problems, the common being dysmenorrhea. Symptom of RTI/STI was also a common problem encountered among these girls as almost one in seven girls were having these symptoms and this was more among the girls not using sanitary pad during menstruation.