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Sanitary napkins are technical textile products those are used by women during menstruation to collect menstrual fluids hygienically. Sanitary napkins are layered structures, as they have to fulfill different end-use properties at the same time. In this study, a detailed survey was conducted to 500 women living in different regions of Turkey. In th...
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Background: Menstruation is a normal biological process and a key sign of reproductive health. Good hygiene
practices are essential during menstruation. The current study was conducted to assess the knowledge, awareness and
practices related to menstrual hygiene management and find out the relationship between the socio economic status
and age a...
Background: In developing countries many adolescent girls lack appropriate information, materials and access to the right sanitary facilities to manage menstruation. Therefore, this study aimed to assess menstrual hygiene management practices among secondary school girls in Ifakara Town, Kilombero District, Tanzania. Methods: A school based cross-s...
Background: Utilizing hygienic methods during the menstrual cycle reduces women’s health vulnerabilities and
promotes their overall well-being. However, the usage of unsanitary menstrual methods is sizable among young women in India. Therefore, the current study aims to determine the socioeconomic and geographic distribution and predictors of usin...
The inadequate knowledge of personal hygiene and sanitation is directly correlated with the health of an individual, a family, a community, a nation, and the globe as a whole. To know the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of personal hygiene and sanitation among the girl students in Dhangadhi, Nepal; this study was conducted in four differen...
Adolescence in girls has been recognized as a special period which signifies the transition from girlhood to womanhood. The purpose of this study was to better understand the challenges that girls face due to lack of menstrual hygiene facilities in home and its impact on their academic performance. The study was conducted on 240 adolescent girls wh...
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... Disposable menstrual pads evolved from a Benjamin Franklin invention to aid stop bleeding in wounded troops, although they appear to have first been commercially accessible around 1880 with Thomas and William Southall's pads. 1 Girls and women in India utilised cloths, rags, and sheep wools prior to the creation of sanitary pads. Arunachalam Muruganantham, widely known as India's Menstrual Men, was concerned with creating low-cost and cheap pads in 1998, and after years of struggle, his innovation altered the lives of millions of Indian girls and women. ...
The knowledge of proper uses and disposal of sanitary pads during menstruation appropriately and replacing them on time are essential practices needed to maintain menstrual hygiene. Failure to do so may lead to detrimental consequences that could affect the health of girls and make them susceptible to reproductive tract infections. Aims of present study to assess the knowledge and practices regarding proper uses and disposal of sanitary pads among girls studying in B.Sc. Nursing in selected nursing college, Kanpur, U.P. Descriptive research design was adopted and purposive sampling technique was used to select 100 girls studying in B.Sc. Nursing in selected nursing college, Kanpur, U.P. The data was collected organized and analyzed in term of descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Finding revealed the 7 (7%) had inadequate knowledge and practices, 39 (39%) had moderate knowledge and practices and 54 (54%) had adequate knowledge and practices. The test found that there is no significant association exists between the variables with their knowledge score. Hence the formulated research hypothesis H1 was rejected and H0 the null hypothesis was accepted. Study concluded that the B.Sc. Nursing students require more knowledge regarding proper uses and disposal of sanitary pads with proper training enhance the knowledge and improve the method of practices during menstruation.
... Sanitary napkins are effectively used to absorb menstrual fluid and retain it, preventing leakage, bad odor, and unhygienic levels depending on the composition of the absorbent polymer it constitutes (Kara et al. 2021). Out of the 336 million menstruators in India, 121 million (48% Rural and 77% Urban) use disposable pads which is a total of 113,000 tons of napkin waste generated per year (Kaur 2020). ...
... Commercial disposable sanitary napkins use various polymers for absorption, not just cotton. A polymer derived from acrylic acid monomer and sodium hydroxide is blended with cellulose having a high fluid retention capacity (Kara et al. 2021;Woeller and Hochwalt 2015) (Fig. 2). ...
... However, they are almost similar in overall structure and polymers used (Barman et al. 2017). Synthetic disposable pads follow a four-layered polymeric structure with the top sheet being a fluid-permeable surface that tends to percolate the menstrual fluid down to the core hence keeping the top layer dry (Bae et al. 2018;Kara et al. 2021;Woeller and Hochwalt 2015). This is achieved by using a porous nonwoven thermoplastic fiber, either polypropylene or polyethylene that has wet mechanical sustainability (Shin and Ahn 2007). ...
With ever-improving social and medical awareness about menstrual hygiene in India, the demand for sanitary napkins has increased significantly. The utilization of high-quality and environment-friendly raw materials to produce these pads is further supporting the growth of the market. However, with improving demand and usage, the need for proper disposal techniques becomes more relevant, since all of these pads get contaminated with human blood which makes them a biohazard and can cause significant damage to human health and the environment. One sanitary pad takes around 800 years to degrade naturally and the plastic and super absorbent polymers (SAPs) in sanitary pads are non-biodegradable and can take multiple decades to degrade. Waste management technologies such as pyrolysis, gasification, and resource recovery can be adopted to manage tons of sanitary waste. Currently, sanitary waste treatment mainly focuses on landfilling, incineration, and composting, where biohazard wastes are mixed with tons of solid waste. Disposable sanitary pads have a high carbon footprint of about 5.3 kg CO2 equivalent every year. Innovative solutions for sanitary pad disposal are discussed in the manuscript which includes repurposing of derived waste cellulose and plastic fraction into value-added products. Future aspects of disinfection strategies and value addition to waste cellulose recovered from napkins were systematically discussed to promote a circular economy.
Graphical abstract
... Additionally, the production process for these pads involves significant energy consumption and emits greenhouse gases, contributing to climate change. Moreover, the bleaching agents used in some pads can release dioxins into the environment, posing health risks for both wildlife and humans (Kara, 2021;Paul, 2020;Central Pollution Control Board, 2016). ...
... Typical sanitary napkin consists of top sheet, inner layer (Acquisition/Distribution Layer-ADL and absorbent core (Pulp/Superabsorbent mix)) and a back sheet. Top sheet allows absorbing the menstrual fluid quickly; ADL is responsible for spreading the incoming menstrual fluid throughout the bottom layer; absorbent layer (core) provides the liquid holding and absorption; back sheet is made of liquid-proof layer that allows no leakage [3][4]. ADL and absorbent core layers are formed by different nonwoven fabric production methods. ...
Disposable hygienic products are classified as technical textile products and are used intensively in the field of medical textiles. As a hygienic textile product, a sanitary napkin consists of a top sheet, an inner layer (Acquisition Distribution Layer (ADL) and a core of Pulp/Superabsorbent mixture), and a back sheet. Nonwovens are commonly used in the production of these components. The most important factors to consider in new product design are rapid absorption of menstrual fluid, comfort, and also price. In this context, although there is a cost restriction on sanitary napkins, it is clear that the use of different new raw materials and methods will improve their performance characteristics. In this study, a new designed airlaid composite nonwoven combined with synthetic fiber and wood pulp was used as the inner layer of a sanitary napkin without the core. In addition, four different top sheet types were used in the sanitary napkin design. Liquid strike through time, rewet, and menstrual fluid diffusion of the samples were determined, to compare the performance of sanitary napkins with core and without the core. It was concluded that the inner layer design has a significant effect on the liquid strike through time and menstrual fluid diffusion properties. It has been revealed that the menstrual fluid diffusion value of airlaid composite nonwoven sanitary napkins is higher than the ADL+core inner layer. In addition, it was concluded that the top sheet type did not have a statistically significant effect on liquid strike through and rewet properties.
In this study, antimicrobial and deodorizing nanofibrous composite membranes based on natural substances were developed for use in feminine sanitary napkins. Plant-derived natural essential oils, such as lemongrass oil and May Chang oil, were incorporated into polyvinyl alcohol nanofibers using emulsion electrospinning. The fiber morphology, oil distribution, and pore size distribution of the nanofibrous composite membranes were examined. The antimicrobial and deodorizing effects, tensile properties, and release behavior of the functional ingredients from the composite membranes were investigated to examine their use in sanitary napkins. Core–sheath nanofibers, in which lemongrass oil or May Chang oil was uniformly distributed within the fiber core, were fabricated using various oil contents. The essential oil-loaded nanofibrous composite membranes contained pores ranging from 0.130 to 1.349 µm in size. The release profiles of the essential oils from the composite membranes over an 8 h period demonstrated a continuous release of citral and limonene. Composite membranes containing either lemongrass oil or May Chang oil exhibited outstanding antimicrobial effects against vaginal pathogens, such as Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus, despite their low oil content. Deodorizing effects against ammonia gas were observed at oil contents higher than that required to achieve antimicrobial effects. The composite membranes exhibited lower Young’s modulus and greater elongation at break values under wet conditions compared to dry conditions. Our findings demonstrate that antimicrobial and deodorizing nanofibrous composite membranes based on plant-derived essential oils have the potential for use in feminine hygiene products.
