Awareness about Reproductive Health Issues among the Adolescent Girls in a Rural Area of Bangladesh

Authors

  • Nasreen Akther Associate Professor (c.c), Dept. of Community Medicine, Ibn Sina Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Meherunnessa Begum Associate Professor (c.c), Dept. of Community Medicine, Ibn Sina Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Tamanna Tasmin Assistant Professor, Dept. of Forensic Medicine, Ibn Sina Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Khondoker Saif Imtiaz Associate Professor & Head, Dept. of Community Medicine, CARe Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Ahmed Nawsher Alam Principal Scientifi Offir, Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR), Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Asma Begum Professor (c.c) & Head, Dept. ofForensic Medicine, Ibn Sina Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • Nadia Begum Associate Professor, Dept. of Community Medicine, Z.H. Shikder Women’s Medical College, Dhaka, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v19i3.45876

Keywords:

Awareness; Reproductive health issues; Adolescent girls; Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: In Bangladesh there is a scarcity of data on the degree of knowledge amongadolescents about reproductive health.

Objective: To assess the awareness about reproductivehealth issues among adolescent girls in a rural area of Bangladesh.

Materials and method: Thisdescriptive type of cross sectional study was conducted among 148 adolescent girls who wereselected purposively at PurbaChandara village of Kaliakairthana of Shafipurupazilla of Gazipurdistrict in Bangladesh. A pre-tested semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data byface to face interview.

Results: Most of the respondents (76.35%) were within the age group of15-19 years. The average age of their menarche was 14 years. Majority of the respondents 136(91.89%) had history of menstruation and 97 (65.54%) mentioned the duration of menstrualcycle > 7 days. Regarding the hygienic practice during menstruation, majority of them (68.24%)were unhygienic. About knowledge on age at marriage, 131 (88.51%) reportedly mentionedcorrect answer that marriage age is 18 years or more for girls. Regarding the knowledge onfamily planning and family planning methods, most of them (41.89%) had no knowledge.About the infection of reproductive tract, 87 (58.78%) had no knowledge and about half of therespondents (92; 56.79%) had no knowledge about symptoms of STDs.

Conclusion: it is ourresponsibility to improve the condition of adolescent girls by giving clear and correct knowledgeon reproductive health which will help them to maintain a good and sound reproductive healthin future.

Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol.19(3) 2020 p.567-574

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Published

2020-03-10

How to Cite

Akther, N., Begum, M., Tasmin, T., Imtiaz, K. S., Alam, A. N., Begum, A., & Begum, N. (2020). Awareness about Reproductive Health Issues among the Adolescent Girls in a Rural Area of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science, 19(3), 567–574. https://doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v19i3.45876

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 3 (2020)

Section

Original Articles

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