TY - JOUR
T1 - School and work absenteeism due to menstruation in three West African countries
T2 - findings from PMA2020 surveys
AU - Hennegan, Julie
AU - OlaOlorun, Funmilola M.
AU - Oumarou, Sani
AU - Alzouma, Souleymane
AU - Guiella, Georges
AU - Omoluabi, Elizabeth
AU - Schwab, Kellogg J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The PMA2020 project relies on the work of many individuals, both in the United States and in survey countries. We are grateful to the country teams and resident enumerators, now numbering more than 1700, who are ultimately responsible for the success of PMA2020. Further, the project team is grateful for support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, particularly Win Brown for his technical support. We thank Alexandra Shannon for her support of PMA2020 WASH and MHM. We are grateful to Awen Southern who provided the French language translation of this manuscript. Conceived the study: JH. Contributed to research design and survey materials: FO KS SO SA GG EO. Analysed the data: JH. Wrote the first draft of the manuscript: JH. Provided critical contributions and comments on the manuscript: FO KS SO SA GG EO. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Reports of school and work absences due to unmet menstrual needs have prompted increased attention to menstruation in policy and practice. However, there appear to be few quantitative studies reported in published literature capturing the prevalence of this hypothesised absenteeism. This study undertook secondary analysis of nationally representative Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) data from Burkina Faso and Nigeria, and city-representative data from Niamey, Niger to determine the extent of women’s and girls’ self-reported absence from school and work due to menstruation. Among women and adolescent girls aged 15–49 years who had worked outside the household in the past month in Burkina Faso (n = 998), Niger (n = 212) and Nigeria (n = 3638), 19%, 11% and 17%, respectively, reported missing work due to menstruation. Among those aged 15–24 years who attended school in the past year in Burkina Faso (n = 461), Niger (n = 213) and Nigeria (n = 1574), 17%, 15% and 23% reported missing school in the past year due to menstruation. Findings support the assertion that menstruation is a source of absenteeism in West Africa and indicate that greater attention from research, practice, and policy is needed. In presenting this data we also reflect critically on the performance of questions regarding menstrual-related absenteeism in national monitoring surveys. Future monitoring efforts should consider the interpretability of similar survey data when many respondents did not attend any school or work and were ineligible to answer questions regarding absenteeism. Further, without additional research identifying the reasons for absenteeism, findings from similar survey questions may be difficult to interpret with relevance for policy decision making.
AB - Reports of school and work absences due to unmet menstrual needs have prompted increased attention to menstruation in policy and practice. However, there appear to be few quantitative studies reported in published literature capturing the prevalence of this hypothesised absenteeism. This study undertook secondary analysis of nationally representative Performance Monitoring and Accountability 2020 (PMA2020) data from Burkina Faso and Nigeria, and city-representative data from Niamey, Niger to determine the extent of women’s and girls’ self-reported absence from school and work due to menstruation. Among women and adolescent girls aged 15–49 years who had worked outside the household in the past month in Burkina Faso (n = 998), Niger (n = 212) and Nigeria (n = 3638), 19%, 11% and 17%, respectively, reported missing work due to menstruation. Among those aged 15–24 years who attended school in the past year in Burkina Faso (n = 461), Niger (n = 213) and Nigeria (n = 1574), 17%, 15% and 23% reported missing school in the past year due to menstruation. Findings support the assertion that menstruation is a source of absenteeism in West Africa and indicate that greater attention from research, practice, and policy is needed. In presenting this data we also reflect critically on the performance of questions regarding menstrual-related absenteeism in national monitoring surveys. Future monitoring efforts should consider the interpretability of similar survey data when many respondents did not attend any school or work and were ineligible to answer questions regarding absenteeism. Further, without additional research identifying the reasons for absenteeism, findings from similar survey questions may be difficult to interpret with relevance for policy decision making.
KW - dysmenorrhea
KW - employment
KW - menstrual health
KW - menstrual hygiene
KW - school attendance
KW - survey
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105739681&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85105739681&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/26410397.2021.1915940
DO - 10.1080/26410397.2021.1915940
M3 - Article
C2 - 33969811
AN - SCOPUS:85105739681
SN - 0968-8080
VL - 29
JO - Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
JF - Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters
IS - 1
M1 - 1915940
ER -