Period poverty: menstrual health hygiene issues among adolescent and young Venezuelan migrant women at the northwestern border of Brazil

It is estimated that there are at least 79.5 million people worldwide who have left their homes due to armed conflict, persecution, generalized violence, lack of economic opportunities, or human rights violations [1]. Around half of them are adolescent girls and women of reproductive age [1, 2]. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescents as the group aged from 10 to 19 years old [3]. Nevertheless, research concerning adolescents is often extended to include individuals until 24 years old, defined as young adults or Youth, in agreement with contemporary patterns of adolescent growth [4].

Adolescent girls and young women are a neglected group in humanitarian settings [5] and their sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues are habitually neglected [6]. They have limited knowledge about contraceptive methods, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and are more vulnerable to unplanned pregnancies, leading to increased rates of unsafe abortion, maternal morbidity, and mortality. Gender-based, domestic, and sexual violence is also a key concern among this group [6, 7]. Issues considered trivial in other contexts, are of relevance in vulnerable populations, with important impact on individual wellbeing and healthcare. Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is an unmet aspect of SRH and can be an additional challenge for displaced adolescents and young women, due to a period poverty: lack of hygiene products, inadequate access to safe, clean, and private toilets that all of them impacting in their health and wellbeing [8‐10]

In Latin America, the Venezuelan economic crisis during the last 5 years, led that almost 5.4 million Venezuelans leave the country [11], and it is considered the largest displacement in the history of the region [1, 12]. It was estimated that since 2017 over 455,000 Venezuelans have arrived in Brazil, and of these, about 40,000 currently reside in the city of Boa Vista (the state capital, near to Venezuelan border), representing around 10% of the local population [12, 13]. The Brazilian Government, in collaboration with the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR), built 13 shelters in the state hosting at early May 2021, 7,175 Venezuelans as transit location waiting for a definitive resettlement in other parts of the country [14].

Due to the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic, since March 2020, the Brazilian border with Venezuela was closed [15]; nevertheless, the Venezuelans continue to cross the border through alternative routes [16, 17]. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported around 1603 Venezuelans living in tents behind the Roraima’s bus station, including 84 female adolescents (12–17 years old) [16]. Further, MHM is an important issue for migrant women worldwide [4]. Due to the scarce information regarding Venezuelan migrant adolescents about MHM, our aim was to provide an overview of the main MHM issues affecting migrant Venezuelan adolescents and young women in Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil.

A total of 167 adolescents and young women were invited to participate, 142 (12–24 years old; 85.0%) completed the questionnaire; the age (mean ± SD) was 17.7 (± 3.6). Ten adolescents aged 10–11 years old were excluded because they did not adequately respond, filling out all alternatives in every question, invalidating their analysis and other four (under 18 years old), 11 adolescents were excluded because they reported that they had not yet had menarche and other four (under 18 years old), were also excluded because they were deprived of authorization by their mothers to participate in the study due to the topic related to sexual and reproductive health issues, including menstruation. In relation to housing conditions, the majority (84.5%) was living on the tents behind the Roraima’s bus station, and for most of them (80%) the main source of income since they arrived in Brazil, was donations (Table 1).

A half of the interviewed females (50%) who menstruate did not receive any hygiene kit since they arrived at Boa Vista (Table 2). In addition, among those who received disposable pads (45%), little more than a half (53.6%) reported that the pads’ material was rarely or never comfortable and there were not distributed in sufficient quantity (33.3%) (Fig. 1). No menstrual caps were distributed in this population.

Concerning the sociocultural concepts about menstruation, one third of the interviewed females do not feel comfortable about carrying pads with them and almost all of them (93.2%) in a certain way were concerned that someone could see the pads in the place where they were disposed (Fig. 1).

Although the majority (88%) reported they had access to a toilet for changing pads, these places do not offer adequate sanitation conditions, 61% were not able to wash their hands whenever they wanted and did not feel safe to use the toilets. Most of the interviewed women reported, at least sometimes, they were afraid to be harmed by someone (75.9%) or by an animal or insect (82%) (Fig. 2).

Regarding the open question (“How is menstruation to you?”), 28 participants (19.7%) did not respond it. Among those who responded, almost a quarter said they did not know, for the others in general the responses about menstruation were often described with negative words as horrible, terrible, bad, or painful. Figure 3 shows the grouping of words in their meanings according to the frequencies in which they appeared.

Menstrual poverty among the Venezuelan migrant youth in Boa Vista, Brazil was evident: lack of access to adequate menstrual hygiene products, sanitation conditions and toilets.

Less than a half of the interviewed adolescents and young women had received menstrual materials (disposable pads), and for those, one-third reported that the quantity distributed was not enough for a month period. Further, menstrual caps were not allowed in this group of young women. The literature showed that in the lack of appropriate materials, the adolescents and young women handle menstruation with methods that could be unhygienic as reusable old cloth, tissue paper, leaves, wool pieces, or cotton [10, 21, 22]; this could cause discomfort, irritation, and potentially increase the risk of reproductive tract infections (RTI) [22, 23]. In the year 2014, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that 1 out of every 10-menstruating youth miss school during their menstrual cycle due to lack of access to menstrual products and resources. Further, in many developing countries many schools do not have sufficient toilets and when exist they were without adequate privacy and in many cases, they provided poor water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure [24]. If this situation was described in settings not under humanitarian crisis it is possible to imagine what happens among females living almost on the streets as occurred with the interviewed females.

In addition, it was described that those adolescents and young women in humanitarian settings can suffer sexual exploitation trying to manage their MHM needs [10, 22]. In our study, we observed that the majority of females reported fear and anxiety of leakage of bleeding through the clothes which was also reported in other humanitarian contexts causing psychological and social effects as harassment, isolation, and absenteeism at school [9, 10, 25].

Regarding the access to private toilets and sanitation infrastructure, not all the interviewed youth were able to use the toilets and the majority were unable to wash their hands, acknowledging the negligence already reported previously in MHM in emergency settings [8‐10]. The absence of adequate sanitation facilities can increase the risk of sexual violence [22, 26] which was related as a fear by the majority of adolescents and young women in our study.

A stigma or taboo about menstruation in this group of migrants is clear, including the finding of mothers who have deprived their daughters to participate in this research, highlighting the characteristics of this transgenerational taboo, which contributes to the persistence of menstrual poverty [27]. Almost 30% of them did not answer the questions or answered that they did not know what menstruation for them is; moreover, for the others, menstruation was associated either with negative feelings or resignation. This has been described in other studies regardless the nationality, religious, or cultural beliefs [9, 10, 22‐25], underlying the needs of education on menstrual and reproductive health with the youth and the communities, so that everyone, including men, would be knowledgeable and comfortable in discussing MHM issues [10, 22, 27].

The interviewed females reported a shortage of menstrual supplies, private toilets, sanitation conditions, and comprehensive information. This situation has been published previously in studies with adolescents and young women in other humanitarian contexts including in low- and middle-income countries; with socio-psychological impacts in quality of life and in reproductive health of this population [22‐24, 26]. Regarding the reality in Boa Vista, so far, the Brazilian government does not have a policy to address period poverty. On the latest October 07th, Jair Bolsonaro, Brazilian president vetoed a bill that provided for the distribution of sanitary pads to vulnerable populations. [28]

An international effort to alert and educate about this condition was created by the Alliance for Period Supplies: Period Poverty Awareness Week which took place on the last week of May (24–30) 2021 [29]. This initiative is very important to raise society’ awareness, prompting to pressure governments to develop an educational policy that demystifies menstruation and ensures hygiene kits for adolescents, as has been done in Canada, Australia and New Zealand [30].

In humanitarian settings, the presence of other actors as NGO´s, working in collaboration with governments and community leaders is also very important to educate, advocate, provide adequate sanitation installations and assure access to hygiene kits [31].

This study has some limitations. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic it was not possible to have access to the UNCHR shelters, as initially agreed, consequently the results are almost only from migrants living on the streets. Since a self-responded questionnaire was used, adolescents between 10 and 11 years old were excluded because they did not complete the questionnaires adequately. Also, focus group discussions could be more appropriate to enable more data from the younger adolescents. However, the study strength is that, as far as we know, it is the first report which provides an overview of the status of MHM issues among Venezuelan adolescent migrants.

In conclusion, the migrant Venezuelan adolescents and young women in Boa Vista have their MHM needs overlooked and due to the COVID-19 pandemic they might be more affected since they are living in precarious conditions. Efforts to address the MHM needs from this population require urgent attention.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, it is necessary to strengthen the collaboration among NGO’s which are already working in Boa Vista, UNHCR shelters, the Brazilian army and local leaders discussing menstrual health, offering menstrual and hygiene kits, building adequate sanitation with proper water and specific toilets for women and advocating a government policy to address period poverty, in order to guarantee a menstrual dignity to this neglected population.