Hema Divakar1 , Rita Singh2 , Poorni Narayanan3 , Divakar G.V.4 , Raksha Suvarna5
BACKGROUND Meagre data exists as to whether health care professionals consider and advocate menstrual cups as a safe and feasible alternative to the generally used methods of menstruation management. The attitudes and practice among girls and women with respect to usage of menstrual cups is also not known. Therefore, we conducted a cross-sectional survey to understand the knowledge, attitudes and practices of menstrual cup and its recommended usage from the health care providers dealing with young girls and women. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 163 obstetricians and gynaecologists in the public and private practice in Bangalore, India. RESULTS 93% of the health care providers think that menstrual cups are more environment friendly than sanitary pads. We found that only 59% think that they are the way forward for better menstrual hygiene management. Only 57% of the health care providers actually advised young girls on the usage of menstrual cups. Though fifty percent of the health care providers think that it is appropriate to advice menstrual cups to young girls, only 35% pro-actively advocate menstrual cups to young girls irrespective of their sexual activity. Most of the users had the internet and peer group as their source of information, rather than the healthcare providers. CONCLUSIONS These results call for better awareness amongst healthcare providers on advocacy of eco-friendly measures to promote menstrual health and hygiene.
