IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pgph00/0003145.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Spatial heterogeneity of menstrual discriminatory practices against Nepalese women: A population-based study using the 2022 Demographic and Health Survey

Author

Listed:
  • Geoffrey Barini
  • Sharon Amima
  • Damaris Mulwa
  • Polycarp Mogeni

Abstract

Menstrual discrimination hampers progress toward Sustainable Development Goals. Examining the spatial heterogeneity of menstrual discriminatory practices may present an opportunity for targeted interventions. Here we evaluate geographical disparities in menstrual-related restrictions and assess their association with socio-economic and demographic factors. We used data from the 2022 Nepal Demographic and Health Survey which included 13,065 women aged 15–49 who reported menstruating within the past year. We explored the spatial heterogeneity of menstrual restriction outcomes using the standard Gaussian kernel density approximation method and the spatial scan statistic. The Poisson regression model with robust standard errors was used to assess the association between the different forms of menstrual restriction and the socio-economic, and demographic factors. Overall, the prevalence of women who reported any form of menstrual restriction was 84.8% and was subject to geographical variations ranging from 79.0% in Bagmati to 95.6% in Sudurpashchim. Religious restrictions were the most prevalent (79.8%) followed by household-level restrictions (39.5%) and then Chhaupadi (6.2%). Geographical variations were more prominent for women experiencing Chhaupadi (primary geographical cluster: relative risk = 7.4, p

Suggested Citation

  • Geoffrey Barini & Sharon Amima & Damaris Mulwa & Polycarp Mogeni, 2024. "Spatial heterogeneity of menstrual discriminatory practices against Nepalese women: A population-based study using the 2022 Demographic and Health Survey," PLOS Global Public Health, Public Library of Science, vol. 4(11), pages 1-17, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0003145
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0003145
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0003145
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgph.0003145&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pgph.0003145?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Goli, Srinivas & Sharif, Nowaj & Paul, Samanwita & Salve, Pradeep S., 2020. "Geographical disparity and socio-demographic correlates of menstrual absorbent use in India: A cross-sectional study of girls aged 15–24 years," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    2. Krenz, Astrid & Strulik, Holger, 2021. "The impact of menstruation hygiene management on work absenteeism of women in Burkina Faso," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Czura, Kristina & Menzel, Andreas & Miotto, Martina, 2024. "Improved menstrual health and the workplace: An RCT with female Bangladeshi garment workers," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    2. Castro, Silvia & Czura, Kristina, 2025. "Cultural taboos and misinformation about menstrual health management in rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    3. Karan Babbar & Supriya Garikipati, 2023. "What socio-demographic factors support disposable vs. sustainable menstrual choices? Evidence from India’s National Family Health Survey-5," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(8), pages 1-22, August.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pgph00:0003145. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: globalpubhealth (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/globalpublichealth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.