Pobreza menstrual de mulheres que vivem em situação de rua

Abstract

Menstrual poverty occurs in response to the lack of access to intimate hygiene products needed during the menstruation and the impossibility of accessing suitable places to use them. This is a serious public health problem, intensified as it affects the most vulnerable people, especially homeless. Although many studies have been conducted ir order to characterize menstrual poverty in different populations, little has been investigated on the subject in homeless women. Is is proposed as an objective, in this dissertation, to identify which practices of intimate hygiene care are carried out by homeless women and their perception of the relationship between menstrual poverty and homeless. The study was carried out in the city of Maringá, State of Paraná, in Brazil, with women (in total, there were 10 interviewees) who were attended at the “Consultório na Rua”, of the Municipal Secretary of Health. The women were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire from May to August 2022. The interviews were recorded and the content transcribed for qualitative analysis of the narratives. The main confrontations pointed out by women while homeless regarding intimate hygiene during menstrual flow days are difficulty in accessing hygiene products and improvising sanitary pads. The main basic needs to be overcome are underwear and personal hygiene. Regarding the management of gynecological health, the main difficulties are cleaning of clothes, pain and intimate hygiene. It is concluded that the lack of access to pads, adequate places for personal hygiene and the shortage of underwear stand out as the main relationships established in the women’s narratives between homeless and menstrual poverty.