PREVALENCE OF DYSMENORRHEA AMONG FEMALE STUDENTS ATTENDING SALAAM UNIVERSITY IN MOGADISHU, SOMALIA AND FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH IT

Dysmenorrhea is pain associated with menstruation. It’s often an issue discussed in privacy yet continues to affect girls and women with grave impact on their education, social activities and work. Objective: To assess the factors that influence prevalence of dysmenorrhea among university students and factors associated with it in Salaam University in Mogadishu Capital city of Somalia. The study area was Salaam University. A cross sectional study was used to collect data on prevalence of dysmenorrhea among university students and factors associated with it. A self-administered questionnaire non-probability sampling, especially, the purposive sampling method was utilized to for semi-structured questionnaire and interview (N=190). SPSS V.16 was used for data analysis. The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was 72.0%. Conclusion: The prevalence of dysmenorrhea was high which was influenced mainly by the number of children, no family history of dysmenorrhea and daily consumption of sugary foods. The high prevalence of dysmenorrhea among students requires health education about it, its causes, management, schools to stock analgesics in the school clinics and further research on its effect on academic life of the students.