Research Associate, The Water Institute, Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. Correspondence:
Senior Lecturer, Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Sex Reprod Health Matters. 2021 Dec;29(1):1915940. doi: 10.1080/26410397.2021.1915940.
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 (= 998), Niger (= 212) and Nigeria (= 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 (= 461), Niger (= 213) and Nigeria (= 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.
由于未满足的月经需求而导致的学校和工作缺勤的报告引起了人们对月经问题在政策和实践中的更多关注。然而，发表的文献中似乎很少有定量研究报告捕捉到这种假设性缺勤的流行程度。本研究对来自布基纳法索和尼日利亚的具有全国代表性的绩效监测和问责制 2020 年（PMA2020）数据以及尼日尔尼亚美市的代表性数据进行了二次分析，以确定因月经而导致妇女和女孩自我报告的缺勤程度。在过去一个月中曾在家庭以外工作的 15-49 岁的妇女和少女中，布基纳法索（=998）、尼日尔（=212）和尼日利亚（=3638）分别有 19%、11%和 17%的人报告因月经而缺勤。在过去一年中曾在学校上学的 15-24 岁的人中，布基纳法索（=461）、尼日尔（=213）和尼日利亚（=1574）分别有 17%、15%和 23%的人报告过去一年因月经而缺课。这些发现支持了这样的断言，即月经是西非缺勤的一个原因，并表明需要从研究、实践和政策方面给予更多关注。在呈现这些数据的同时，我们还批判性地反思了国家监测调查中有关月经相关缺勤问题的提问表现。未来的监测工作应考虑到当许多受访者没有上学或工作且没有资格回答缺勤问题时，类似调查数据的可解释性。此外，如果没有进行额外的研究来确定缺勤的原因，那么类似调查问题的结果可能难以解释，并且对于政策决策也没有实际意义。
