COVID-19 and period products usage among menstruating women in urban and rural India

Abstract

This paper estimates the impact of the lockdown across various zones on the period product consumption for menstruating women in India. We have used the national-level panel data from the CMIE’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey (CPHS) database across 510 districts of India, along with the lockdown zones data. Our study uses a robust strategy to exploit the temporal and spatial variation of the lockdown by using difference-in-difference estimates on period products expenditure. Our results show reduction of 27% in period products consumption in red zone districts compared to the green zone districts. There is a strong need to create robust infrastructure to ensure delivery of period products, especially during emergencies.