Do Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Conditions in Primary Schools Consistently Support Schoolgirls’ Menstrual Needs? A Longitudinal Study in Rural Western Kenya

Kelly T. Alexander, Garazi Zulaika, Elizabeth Nyothach, Clifford Oduor, Linda Mason, David Obor, Alie Eleveld, Kayla F. Laserson and Penelope A. Phillips-Howard
Additional contact information
Kelly T. Alexander: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L35QA, UK
Garazi Zulaika: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L35QA, UK
Elizabeth Nyothach: Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu 1578-40100, Kenya
Clifford Oduor: Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu 1578-40100, Kenya
Linda Mason: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L35QA, UK
David Obor: Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu 1578-40100, Kenya
Alie Eleveld: Safe Water and AIDS Programme, Kisumu 3323-40100, Kenya
Kayla F. Laserson: Kenya Medical Research Institute, Kisumu 1578-40100, Kenya
Penelope A. Phillips-Howard: Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L35QA, UK

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-15

Abstract: Many females lack access to water, privacy and basic sanitation—felt acutely when menstruating. Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions in schools, such as access to latrines, water, and soap, are essential for the comfort, equity, and dignity of menstruating girls. Our study was nested within a cluster randomized controlled pilot feasibility study where nurses provided menstrual items to schoolgirls. We observed the WASH conditions of 30 schools from June 2012–October 2013 to see if there were any changes in conditions, to compare differences between study arms and to examine agreement between observed and teacher-reported conditions. Data came from study staff observed, and school teacher reported, WASH conditions. We developed scores for the condition of school facilities to report any changes in conditions and compare outcomes across study arms. Results demonstrated that soap availability for students increased significantly between baseline and follow-up while there was a significant decrease in the number of “acceptable” latrines. During the study follow-up period, individual WASH indicators supporting menstruating girls, such as locks on latrine doors or water availability in latrines did not significantly improve. Advances in WASH conditions for all students, and menstrual hygiene facilities for schoolgirls, needs further support, a defined budget, and regular monitoring of WASH facilities to maintain standards.

Keywords: water; sanitation; hygiene; menstruation; MHM (menstrual hygiene management); schools; rural; Kenya; girls (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1682/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1682/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1682-:d:162459

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().