Time has come to say no to early marriage, adolescent pregnancy, unwanted pregnancy, and deaths of young mothers and their newborns from avoidable complications.
The subject of adolescent pregnancy and related socio-economic and health hazards were elaborated upon by a bevy of civil society members, especially by health specialists, and health and population researchers from both government and non-governmental sectors in a roundtable discussion jointly organized by BRAC and The Independent on Saturday. The title of the roundtable was: “Adolescent Pregnancy: Call for Action.” It has been said by experts that to fight the mal-practice of early marriage, priority has to be given to girls’ education, dissemination of information regarding reproductive health and rights, enforcement of laws to prevent the practice and greater commitment to translate action plans into reality. Adolescent girls have been identified as the most vulnerable group in society.
Reliable statistics has it that around 25 per cent of the population is adolescents and about 65 per cent of all women get married before they attain the legal age of 18 years. That unveils a very bleak picture of the situation.
It also says that around 30 per cent of the adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years become pregnant as soon as they get married. Early pregnancy, when the mothers are still passing through their own childhood, impairs them both physically and psychologically, and become a burden on family and on society at large.
The incidence of adolescent pregnancy is found more pervasively among poor and less educated girls and those living in rural areas. It has been observed that early marriage is one of the reasons why girls leave schools before completing schools and that babies born to adolescent mothers are more likely to be of low birth weight with an increased risk of infant mortality.
While talking about turnaround of the situation experts said that to delay marriage and pregnancy and practice birth spacing, girls should marry at the age of 20, and the first pregnancy and pregnancy interval be deferred accordingly.
In a somewhat mind-boggling revelation it has been said if early marriage and early births for one million girls could be delayed, Bangladesh could potentially add USD 69 billion to the national income over these girls’ lifetimes.
It seems all sorts of opportunities are there to find the right strategy to stop early marriage as well as save a phenomenal amount that goes to waste because of adolescent marriage and early pregnancy. The call for action therefore has to be one infused with greater commitment towards implementing the strategy without further delay. “Invest in girls” is the cue.