Table 1.
Demographic characteristics and menstrual materials used most often by women who responded to the MUSE and WASHPaLS surveys, by city
| Dakar (n=329) | Kampala (n=411) | Kathmandu (n=420) | Lusaka (n=436) | Meherpur (n=547) | Nairobi (n=603) | Narsapur (n=461) | Saidpur (n=599) | Tiruchirappalli (n=467) | Warangal (n=555) | Total (n=4828) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Age, years | ||||||||||||
| Mean (SD) | 31·9 (8·4) | 30·2 (8·1) | 32·3 (7·9) | 30·8 (9·1) | 32·4 (7·5) | 29·4 (6·0) | 31·3 (7·6) | 30·2 (7·8) | 32·8 (7·9) | 34·4 (7·9) | 31·5 (7·9) | |
| Range | 18–50 | 18–50 | 18–52 | 18–56 | 18–52 | 18–53 | 18–49 | 18–50 | 19–50 | 19–55 | 18–56 | |
| Completed schooling | ||||||||||||
| Primary or less | 141 (42·9%) | 296 (72·0%) | 112 (26·7%) | 270 (61·9%) | 326 (59·6%) | 58 (9·6%) | 244 (52·9%) | 287 (47·9%) | 230 (49·3%) | 242 (43·6%) | 2206 (45·7%) | |
| Secondary | 66 (20·1%) | 82 (20·0%) | 108 (25·7%) | 142 (32·6%) | 150 (27·4%) | 314 (52·1%) | 82 (17·8%) | 216 (36·1%) | 109 (23·3%) | 153 (27·6%) | 1422 (29·5%) | |
| Post-secondary | 31 (9·4%) | 27 (6·6%) | 196 (46·7%) | 9 (2·1%) | 55 (10·1%) | 231 (38·3%) | 62 (13·5%) | 62 (10·4%) | 110 (23·6%) | 88 (15·9%) | 871 (18·0%) | |
| Data missing | 91 (27·7%) | 6 (1·5%) | 4 (1·0%) | 15 (3·4%) | 16 (2·9%) | 0 | 73 (15·8%) | 34 (5·7%) | 18 (3·9%) | 72 (13·0%) | 329 (6·8%) | |
| Participates in income generating activities | 174 (52·9%) | 264 (64·2%) | 212 (51·0%) | 197 (45·2%) | 176 (32·2%) | 202 (33·5%) | 461 (100·0%) | 136 (22·7%) | 191 (40·9%) | 555 (100·0%) | 2568 (53·2%) | |
| Marital status | ||||||||||||
| Single or never married | 110 (33·4%) | 100 (24·3%) | 156 (37·1%) | 128 (29·4%) | 17 (3·1%) | 232 (38·5%) | 74 (16·1%) | 80 (13·4%) | 53 (11·3%) | 31 (5·6%) | 981 (20·3%) | |
| Married | 192 (58·4%) | 97 (23·6%) | 245 (58·3%) | 248 (56·9%) | 506 (92·5%) | 274 (45·4%) | 367 (79·6%) | 510 (85·1%) | 407 (87·2%) | 487 (87·7%) | 3333 (69·0%) | |
| Unmarried and living with partner | 0 | 137 (33·3%) | 0 | 2 (0·5%) | 0 | 48 (8·0%) | 3 (0·7%) | 0 | 0 | 20 (3·6%) | 210 (4·4%) | |
| Divorced, separated, or widowed | 27 (8·2%) | 77 (18·7%) | 19 (4·5%) | 58 (13·3%) | 24 (4·4%) | 49 (8·1%) | 17 (3·7%) | 9 (1·5%) | 7 (1·5%) | 17 (3·1%) | 304 (6·3%) | |
| Religion | ||||||||||||
| Christian (Catholic) | 14 (4·3%) | 131 (31·9%) | 39 (9·4%) | 83 (19·0%) | 0 | 178 (29·5%) | 20 (4·3%) | 1 (0·2%) | 29 (6·2%) | 17 (3·1%) | 512 (10·6%) | |
| Christian (Protestant) | 3 (0·9%) | 203 (49·4%) | 5 (1·2%) | 341 (78·2%) | 0 | 360 (59·7%) | 45 (9·8%) | 7 (1·2%) | 4 (0·9%) | 34 (6·1%) | 1002 (20·8%) | |
| Muslim | 312 (94·8%) | 63 (15·3%) | 321 (77·3%) | 1 (0·2%) | 486 (88·8%) | 10 (1·7%) | 3 (0·7%) | 570 (95·2%) | 63 (13·5%) | 128 (23·1%) | 1957 (40·6%) | |
| Hindu | 0 | 0 | 46 (11·1%) | 0 | 61 (11·2%) | 0 | 392 (85·0%) | 21 (3·5%) | 371 (79·4%) | 374 (67·4%) | 1265 (26·2%) | |
| Other | 0 | 14 (3·4%) | 4 (1·0%) | 11 (2·5%) | 0 | 55 (9·1%) | 1 (0·2%) | 0 | 0 | 2 (0·4%) | 87 (1·8%) | |
| Menstrual materials used most often | ||||||||||||
| Cloth | 7 (2·1%) | 25 (6·1%) | 40 (9·5%) | 24 (5·5%) | 178 (32·5%) | 2 (0·3%) | 116 (25·2%) | 208 (34·7%) | 34 (7·3%) | 108 (19·5%) | 742 (15·4%) | |
| Reusable pads | 2 (0·6%) | 27 (6·6%) | 14 (3·3%) | 7 (1·6%) | 56 (10·2%) | 41 (6·8%) | 14 (3·0%) | 51 (8·5%) | 44 (9·4%) | 2 (0·4%) | 258 (5·3%) | |
| Disposable pads | 248 (75·4%) | 346 (84·2%) | 335 (80·0%) | 347 (79·6%) | 224 (41·0%) | 456 (75·6%) | 330 (71·6%) | 232 (38·7%) | 386 (82·7%) | 441 (79·5%) | 3345 (69·3%) | |
| Tampons | 43 (13·1%) | 0 0·0 | 8 (1·9%) | 2 (0·5%) | 0 | 53 (8·8%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 106 (2·2%) | |
| Toilet paper | 4 (1·2%) | 2 (0·5%) | 4 (1·0%) | 5 (1·1%) | 78 (14·3%) | 20 (3·3%) | 0 | 79 (13·2%) | 0 | 0 | 192 (4·0%) | |
| Cotton wool | 23 (7·0%) | 5 (1·2%) | 3 (0·7%) | 22 (5·0%) | 1 (0·2%) | 13 (2·2%) | 0 | 3 (0·5%) | 3 (0·6%) | 0 | 73 (1·5%) | |
| None | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 (0·7%) | 1 (0·2%) | 0 | 7 (1·2%) | 0 | 0 | 12 (0·3%) | |
| Other | 2 (0·6%) | 6 (1·5%) | 15 (3·6%) | 29 (6·7%) | 6 (1·1%) | 17 (2·8%) | 1 (0·2%) | 19 (3·2%) | 0 | 4 (0·7%) | 99 (2·1%) | |
Data are n (%), unless otherwise stated. MUSE=Measuring Urban Sanitation and Empowerment. WASHPaLS=Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Partnerships and Learning for Sustainability.