Public Health and Menstrual Hygiene Practices in India: Practices, Costs, and Equity Issues

by Smruti Bulsari, Kiran Pandya, Anil Gumber

Overview

This book examines the equity issues regarding practices of menstrual hygiene and affordability of menstrual products by the lower socioeconomic class in India.

By discussing a novel and detailed methodology of estimating the cost of menstrual hygiene, the authors identify various components of direct and indirect costs of menstrual hygiene. The research makes use of a mixed-methods approach to identify key cost drivers to estimate the overall costs across adolescent/young and older women belonging to diverse socioeconomic status. It also discusses the relevant socio-cultural issues associated with menstruation and menstrual cycles, as beliefs and taboos associated with menstrual cycles are the second most deciding factors influencing the choice of menstrual products after affordability.

This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of Women’s and Reproductive Health, Public Health in India, Health and Wellbeing and South Asian Studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781032754338
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/14/2025
Series:	Routledge Contemporary South Asia Series
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Smruti Bulsari is a Senior Research Officer at the University of Essex, where she works on National Institute of Health and Care Applied Research Collaboration (NIHR - ARC), and Alzheimer’s Society-funded research on dementia. She has worked on research projects funded by ESRC, British Academy, ICSSR and Government of Gujarat. She has a PhD in Economics and has experience working with large datasets.

Kiran Pandya is Vice Chancellor of Sarvajanik University. He was also appointed as the Member, National Statistical Commission (NSC), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). He was a Professor and Head in the Department of Human Resource Development, Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, Surat (Gujarat, India). He obtained the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics by the University of Sussex (UK), for which, he was awarded the Academic Staff Scholarship by the Commonwealth Commission in the UK.

Anil Gumber is a Visiting Professor in health economics and medical statistics at the Research Centre for Healthcare & Communities, Coventry University (UK). He also holds an Emeritus Senior Fellow position at the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing, Sheffield Hallam University. He holds a PhD in Economics and was a postdoctoral research scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health, Boston.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Awareness, Beliefs, and Taboos around Menstruation

Chapter 3: Direct Costs of Menstrual Hygiene Practices

Chapter 4: Indirect Costs of Menstrual Health and Implicit Costs of Menstrual Hygiene

Chapter 5: Discussion and Policy Prescriptions