THURS-002 - WASH practices and their association with nutritional status of adolescent girls in Bangladesh

Brief Abstract Summary: The Rohingya refugee community in Bangladesh, particularly adolescent girls, is more susceptible to undernutrition and poor hygiene practices due to their living conditions, knowledge, and behaviors. Although adolescence is a window of opportunity to break the intergenerational cycle of undernutrition, adolescent girls are a neglected group. Focusing on adolescent girls is important because their health and nutritional status before as well as during pregnancy influences fetal growth and newborn health. Inadequate dietary intake and/or disease directly cause undernutrition, while various factors such as poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) indirectly contribute to it. By highlighting the interconnections between WASH practices and nutritional status, this study sought to inform targeted interventions aimed at improving the health outcomes of adolescent girls in this vulnerable community.

Detailed abstract description:

Background: Nutritional status of adolescents is an important health issue because growth during this period is quicker in an individual’s life, except in infancy. This study aimed to evaluate the association between the nutritional status of adolescent girls and their water, sanitation, and hygiene practices in the Rohingya refugee community in Bangladesh. It also examined the effect of cultural beliefs and perceptions about menstruation on hygiene practices and the nutritional status of married and unmarried adolescent girls. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of adolescent Rohingya girls at refugee camps in Ukhiya, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, from February 2021 to March 2021.

Methods: For this study, we interviewed a total of 406 adolescent girls to gather the necessary data. We collected data through in-person interviews using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. A thorough literature review was conducted before the questionnaire was developed. The questionnaire was developed to obtain relevant information regarding socio-demographic characteristics, WASH, menstrual hygiene practices (main source of drinking water, use of sanitary latrine, handwashing after defecation, taking regular baths, use of sandals, type of menstrual adsorbent used, cleanliness of adsorbent), and anthropometric measurements (weight, height, and mid-upper arm circumference) of adolescent girls.

Results: According to this study, most of the respondents (40.9%) were in the late adolescent age range of 17 to 19 years, followed by the middle adolescent age range of 14 to 16 years (37.2%), and the younger age range (21.9%) of 10 to 13 years (early adolescence). In the case of water usage, 65.8% of the respondents used a tube well as their drinking water source, while the rest (34.2%) used other sources. The majority of respondents (88.4%) utilized cloth as their menstrual absorbent, whereas only 10.8% employed sanitary pads, and the remainder used alternative absorbents.

Conclusions: The results of this study highlight the essential link between the nutritional health of teenage girls in the Rohingya community and Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) practices. Therefore, reducing the burden of malnutrition among adolescent girls requires community-based interventions that focus not only on children and infants but also on young girls to improve their nutrition and living environment.