Hygiene practice in coastal areas

The hygiene practice among adolescent girls during periods is very poor in Bangladesh. According to a survey conducted by the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), more than 80 per cent of women and adolescents in the country use old clothes during the time. Maintaining hygiene is even poorer in the coastal areas of our country. Another study, published in 2019, shows that women and adolescents in coastal areas wash their cloths in salt water and use them again. Repeated washing of these cloths in salt water and frequent use of those can pose a health threat to women and girls. These are sometimes responsible for skin diseases and other complexities. What is more worrying is that many of these teenage girls living in coastal areas take birth control pills to stop their period. And they are doing this without consulting any physician.

We must remember that cloths used during periods cannot be washed in the pond where everyone bathes. This is unhygienic. We can understand that for many girls and women in Bangladesh buying sanitary pads is still a luxury. If they really need to use cloths, they can do it for once and it should be as clean as possible. And contraceptive pills cannot be taken without a doctor's advice. It can make someone infertile in the long run.

Ashikujaman Syed,

Research Assistant,

Bioinformatics Research Lab,

Center for Research Innovation and Development (CRID),

syedashikujaman@gmail.com