Health, Hygiene, and Nutrition: A Cause of Concern among Adolescent Girls in Kumaun Uttaranchal

Adolescence is the most important period of transition in life. It requires proper knowledge of health, diet, and hygiene. Lack of timely information and guidance on these matters may cause complications for individuals in adulthood. In less advanced economies, adolescent girls face challenges in identifying their true health and hygiene status. When these issues are not adequately addressed, the adolescent's self-awareness suffers and health and hygiene-related problems result. Hill regions are no exception to this phenomenon. Consequently, there is a need to understand the bathers that impede adolescents' awareness of health, nutrition, and hygiene-related issues. These bathers can obstruct adolescent girls from achieving a better life style based on awareness of their future health needs. A survey on health, hygiene and nutrition of adolescent girls was conducted in Nainital district of the Kumaun region in the Indian state of Uttaranchal. The survey results indicate that adolescent girls have inadequate knowledge of physiological changes, sex-related matters, dietary intake, and personal hygiene. Low family income and poor parental education-esperiglly their mother's low level of education-leave these adolescents especially vulnerable. Almost 50% of the respondents had difficulty with their regular menstrual cycle. They reported that they were embarrassed to discuss menarche. Their hesitancy is due to a conservative family and social system. Age old myths still prevail and traditional practices continue to be followed. In most of the cases, a woman's first interaction with health professionals was either after marriage or during child birth.