IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v15y2018i8p1682-d162459.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Kelly T. Alexander

    (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L35QA, UK
    Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere (CARE), 151 Ellis St NE, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA)

  • 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
    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA)

  • Penelope A. Phillips-Howard

    (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L35QA, UK)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Kelly T. Alexander & Garazi Zulaika & Elizabeth Nyothach & Clifford Oduor & Linda Mason & David Obor & Alie Eleveld & Kayla F. Laserson & Penelope A. Phillips-Howard, 2018. "Do Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Conditions in Primary Schools Consistently Support Schoolgirls’ Menstrual Needs? A Longitudinal Study in Rural Western Kenya," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-15, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1682-:d:162459
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1682/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/8/1682/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Geteneh Moges Assefa & Samiha Sherif & Jose Sluijs & Maarten Kuijpers & Tamene Chaka & Arsema Solomon & Yeshitila Hailu & Muluken Dessalegn Muluneh, 2021. "Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Relation to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-19, April.
    2. Jedidiah S. Snyder & Graeme Prentice-Mott & Charles Boera & Alex Mwaki & Kelly T. Alexander & Matthew C. Freeman, 2020. "The Sustainability and Scalability of Private Sector Sanitation Delivery in Urban Informal Settlement Schools: A Mixed Methods Follow Up of a Randomized Trial in Nairobi, Kenya," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-17, July.

    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:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:8:p:1682-:d:162459. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.