Awareness about Reproductive Tract Infections among Rural Adolescent Girls in Haryana

Introduction: There are about 350 million adolescents comprising about 22% of the population in the countries of the South- East Asia Region (SEAR). Hygiene related practices of adolescent girls have health impact in terms of increased susceptibility to reproductive tract infections (RTIs) which affects productivity of young adolescents.Objective: The study was conducted to find out the magnitude and awareness of reproductive tract infections among adolescent girls in villages under the Comprehensive Rural Health Services Project (CRHSP), Ballabgarh, Haryana.Methodology: A community based cross sectional study was done among adolescent girls aged 14-19 years. Using simple random sampling technique, 274 girls were interviewed using semi structured interview schedule. Analysis was carried out in Stata version 11.Results: All 274 participants had attained menarche and the mean age at attainment of menarche was 14.2 ±1.4 years. Almost half of the participants (47.1%) were not aware about the causes of RTIs. Seventy one girls (25.9%) reported symptoms of reproductive tract infections. Also, almost half of them did not seek any treatment for RTI.Conclusions: There is a concern that prevalence of untreated reproductive tract infections among adolescent girls is significant especially in rural India. Therefore, proper menstrual hygiene and correct perceptions and beliefs can protect the women from this suffering