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Transferring personal hygiene and sanitation education (PHASE): South to North
01.10.2010
GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) hygiene initiative is PHASE, Personal Hygiene and Sanitation Education, a simple and successful handwashing programme developed alongside children and their teachers for implementation in and through schools. Active since 1998, it is currently implemented in 15 international development settings. An evaluation of PHASE reported that the programme had proved to be highly effective and amenable to cross-cultural adaptation. PHASE is currently being transferred to UK primary schools with development taking place in London. During this process issues of ‘South to North’ knowledge transfer (experience, relevance and acceptance) have become key to the design and execution of the programme. This article reports work in progress. -
Factors associated with knowledge, attitudes, and hygiene practices during menstruation among adolescent girls in Uttar Pradesh
01.07.2016
This paper investigates the factors associated with knowledge, attitudes, autonomy, and constraints in the management of menstruation in three districts of Uttar Pradesh. The paper uses data collected from 1,800 post-menarche adolescent girls under a baseline study commissioned by UNICEF in 2012 for a social and behaviour change project, called ‘Girls Today, Women Tomorrow’, on menstrual management. The findings suggest that about half of the girls did not have information or knowledge about menstruation. Less than one-quarter of them followed correct hygiene practices, with very few using ‘sanitary napkin’ as a menstrual absorbent. It was also found that 31 per cent, 20 per cent, and 24 per cent of girls felt impure, isolated, and irritated respectively during menstruation. Two-thirds of the girls reported constraints in the management of menstruation and nearly one-quarter had low autonomy during menstruation. Multivariate analyses indicated that socioeconomic characteristics, such as place of residence (district), the girl’s and her mother’s education, ethnicity, household occupation, economic status, exposure to mass media, and availability of private space, were significant factors influencing menstrual hygiene and autonomy in the management of menstruation.