Pobreza menstrual de estudantes em um município do Baixo Amazonas, Amazônia, Brasil

Abstract

The article aims to understand menstrual poverty among young students in the city of Santarém-PA, has a quantitative and descriptive approach, with data collected from a structured questionnaire with socioeconomic issues, concepts about menstrual cycle and hygiene, applied in urban and rural areas. Of the 111 research participants, the predominant age group in the urban area was 14 to 18 years old and 17 to 19 years old in the rural area, 75% self-declared brown, 84% live in their own home, 24% of young women in the urban area have assistance social and 10% in the rural area, 40% of the young women in the urban area use the SUS and 26% in the rural area, 76% did not have access to consultation with the professional gynecologist, 57% in the absence of sanitary pads use cloth or paper to contain the menstrual bleeding, 80% stated that the school does not provide sanitary pads, 58% indicated a lack of water in the school, 63% reported the absence of showers for hygiene in the school space and 90% of the schools do not discuss menstruation. The study considers a context of vulnerabilities beyond individual blame and brings to the scope of reflection how much social and programmatic vulnerabilities can be limiting for maintaining the quality of life.