Background: In girls adolescence has been recognized as a special period marked with the onset of menarche. Even though menstruation is a natural process, it is associated with misconceptions, malpractices and challenges among girls in developing countries. Many adolescent girls having lack of appropriate and sufficient information regarding menstruation and menstrual hygiene. This may result in incorrect and unhealthy behaviour during their menstrual period So, educating the adolescent girls on menstruation is essential during menstruation. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted among undergraduate medical students of GMERS Medical College, Valsad. A total 203 girls of first, second and third MBBS medical students between age group of 16–22 years were participated in this study. Data was collected by using predesigned, pretested Questionnaire. The data was entered and analyzed by using Microsoft excel 2010 and appropriate statistical test were applied. Results: Out of 203 Girls 84.24% girls had knowledge about menstruation before they experienced menarche and mother was found to be the main source of information. Mean age of menarche was 14.5 years. 59.61% of girls were experience mood disturbance during menstruation in addition to this most of the girls experience one or more kind of associated symptom during their menstruation. 86.70% girls use sanitary napkins where as 13.3% girls use clothes and reuse them. 73.40% said that religious activities were restricted for them during menstrual periods Most of the girls said that sanitary napkin is an expensive and not being easily available at all places. Conclusions: Education on menstruation is vital aspect of health education for all adolescent girls as it related with health consequences and also strongly related with misconceptions and cultural restrictions. Significantly more number of girls in the urban area was using commercially available sanitary pads as compare to the rural girls. To improve the menstrual hygiene, adolescent girls should be educated regarding menstrual hygiene as well as sanitary napkins should be made universally available at affordable price.

Keywords: Menstruation; Menarche; Sanitary Napkin; Medical Student.