EFFECTS OF MENSTRUAL HYGIENE MANAGEMENT ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS IN THE TAMALE METROPOLIS

Abstract

Menstruation is a default physiological and biological aspect of females at their reproductive age. Menstruation and girl child academic performance is a public health issue in developing countries including Ghana. The relationship between menstruation and the academic performance of girls is very important and needs to be addressed in detail. This study therefore sought to investigate the effects of menstrual hygiene on the academic performance of Junior high school girls in the Tamale metropolis. The study used a school based cross sectional study with the mixed method approach. A total of 388 and 44 girls were recruited for quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using SPSS and thematic content analysis respectively. p value less than 0.05 was pegged as the significant level. Majority of the respondents (93.8%) have heard about menstruation through the classroom (56.7%), friends (32.7%) and the media (10.7%). overall, 86.6% of girls had good knowledge about menstruation. The study established significant association between knowledge about menstruation and form/class (p<0.001) and Religion (p=0.03). Nearly 10.0% of adolescent girls absent themselves during menses. The participants indicated that during menstruation they are unable to participate in curriculum and extra curriculum activities. The male counterparts laugh at them and call them names. The fear of being embarrassed by male counterparts and teachers, some girls prefer to stay home for few until the bleeding reduces. In all, level of knowledge about menstruation is high which might have translated into higher level of effective MHM. However, the school environment, the taboos, the misconception and economic factors have been identified to be a great setback to the girl child education. From the forgoing, the Ministry of Education together with its agency (Ghana Education service) should adopt the menstrual hygiene practices guidelines documented by the UNICEF and WHO to enable adolescent girls practice good MHM in schools.