Male Awareness of Menstruation and Menstrual Hygiene in Urban India: Is it Adequate?

Millions of women suffer physically and mentally during menstruation due to inadequate knowledge, misconceptions and sociocultural restrictions. Male awareness of menstrual hygiene is equally important as India being a patriarchal society, family fu^d allocation and decisionmaking rests with them.To assess the knowledge and sociocultural practices regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene among university students. A cross sectional study was conducted on both male and female university students. A pre validated semi structured questionnaire was administered to the students through Google forms. Sample size calculation and statistical analysis was done. Of the 763 participants 453 (59.4%) were female and 310 (40.6%) were male respondents. 481(63.0%) students belonged to medical stream while 282 (37.0%) were enrolled in non-medical courses. The knowledge score calculated on the knowledge based questions was 6.49±0.81 for females which was significantly higher than that of males (4.36±2.07) with a p value of <0.0001. The knowledge score of boys pursuing medical courses was more 6.19±0.83 as compared to boys studying non-medical courses 3.76±2. Majority of the females preferred the use of sanitary pads with little awareness about menstrual cups and tampons. Knowledge about menstruation is lacking in males. Educating males should be a priority so that they can contribute to the menstrual hygiene needs o f girls and help break the stigma and taboos associated with it in the society.