The Case for a Multi-Sectoral Approach to Preventing Child Marriage and Early Childbearing in Sub-Saharan Africa

2017 ◽  
pp. 41-57
Author(s):  
Eunice Muthengi ◽  
Karen Austrian
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Child Marriage ◽  
Early Childbearing ◽  
Sectoral Approach ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Prevalence of child marriage and its impact on fertility outcomes in 34 sub-Saharan African countries

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanni Yaya ◽  
Emmanuel Kolawole Odusina ◽  
Ghose Bishwajit
Keyword(s):  
Pregnancy Termination ◽  
Binary Logistic Regression ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Child Marriage ◽  
Modern Contraceptive ◽  
Contraceptive Methods ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Children Ever Born

Abstract Background The issue of child marriage is a form of human rights violation among young women mainly in resource-constrained countries. Over the past decades, child marriage has gained attention as a threat to women’s health and autonomy. This study explores the prevalence of child marriage among women aged 20–24 years in sub-Saharan Africa countries and examines the association between child marriage and fertility outcomes. Methods Latest DHS data from 34 sub-Saharan African countries were used in this study. Sixty thousand two hundred and fifteen women aged 20–24 years were included from the surveys conducted 2008–2017. The outcome variables were childbirth within the first year of marriage (early fertility), first preceding birth interval less than 24 months (rapid repeat of childbirth), unintended pregnancy, lifetime pregnancy termination, the use of modern contraceptive methods, lifetime fertility and any childbirth. The main explanatory variable was child marriage (< 18 years) and the associations between child marriage and fertility outcomes were examined from the ever-married subsample to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% CIs using binary logistic regression models. Results In the study population, the overall prevalence of women who experience child marriage was 54.0% while results showed large disparities across sub-Saharan African countries ranging from 16.5 to 81.7%. The prominent countries in child marriage were; Niger (81.7%), Chad (77.9%), Guinea (72.8%), Mali (69.0%) and Nigeria (64.0%). Furthermore, women who experience child marriage were 8.00 times as likely to have ≥3 number of children ever born (lifetime fertility), compared to women married at ≥18 years (OR = 8.00; 95%CI: 7.52, 8.46). Women who experience child marriage were 1.13 times as likely to use modern contraceptive methods, compared to adult marriage women (OR = 1.13; 95%CI: 1.09, 1.19). Those who married before the legal age were 1.27 times as likely to have lifetime terminated pregnancy, compared to women married at ≥18 years (OR = 1.27; 95%CI: 1.20, 1.34). Also women married at < 18 years were more likely to experience childbirth, compared to women married later (OR = 5.83; 95%CI: 5.45, 6.24). However, women married at < 18 years had a reduction in early childbirth and a rapid repeat of childbirth respectively. Conclusion Implementing policies and programmmes against child marriage would help to prevent adverse outcomes among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Also, social change programmes on child-marriage would help to reduce child marriage, encourage the use of modern contraceptive, which would minimize lifetime terminated pregnancy and also children ever born.

scholarly journals Girl child marriage, socioeconomic status, and undernutrition: evidence from 35 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

BMC Medicine ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvette Efevbera ◽  
Jacqueline Bhabha ◽  
Paul Farmer ◽  
Günther Fink
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Child Marriage ◽  
Girl Child ◽  
Sub Saharan

scholarly journals Child Marriage: A Discussion Paper

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahera Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Child Marriage ◽  
Discussion Paper ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Set Up

Child marriage is still a massive problem in many developing countries. The issue is more concentrated in countries of Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia. This paper, through literature review attempts to assess the situation, the consequences, various programmes and recommendations on the reduction of child marriage. In this article it is reinforced that, consequences of child marriage put the girls at risk of early pregnancies with life-threatening conditions. This paper suggests that each country should set up its own mid-term and long-term goals to bring about significant reduction in child marriages.

scholarly journals The missing link between legal age of sexual consent and age of marriage in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for sexual and reproductive health and rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bright Opoku Ahinkorah ◽  
Joshua Okyere ◽  
John Elvis Hagan ◽  
Abdul-Aziz Seidu ◽  
Richard Gyan Aboagye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Partner Violence ◽  
Sexuality Education ◽  
Sexual And Reproductive Health ◽  
Sexual Consent ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Child Marriage ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Age Of Marriage

AbstractChild marriage is a fundamental violation of human rights and a threat to access to education, sexual and reproductive health care, and employment. It also threatens freedom from violence, reproductive rights, movement, and the right to consensual marriage. In most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the legal age of marriage is 18 years. Hence, girls who marry before 18 years are considered as victims of child marriage. Closely knitted to legal age for marriage is the issue of age for sexual consent, which refers to the minimum age at which a person is considered to have the legal capacity to consent to sexual intercourse. While there seem to be a standard legal age for marriage, the legal age for sexual consent varies in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is often lower than the legal age of marriage. In this commentary, we argue that the gap between the legal age of sexual consent and marriage partly accounts for some of the sexual and reproductive health challenges such as intimate partner violence, sexually transmitted infections, adolescent pregnancy, early childbirth, including unsafe abortions among adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa and infringements on their sexual and reproductive health rights. This commentary highlights strategic potential interventions that could help address the identified gaps. We argue that aligning the age for sexual consent and marriage is not the solution to the problem. However, what is critical is the education of young people about sexual and reproductive health issues and comprehensive sexuality education through advocacy networks at the national and local levels. Thus, the key is to provide accurate, timely, and non-judgmental sexual and reproductive health and rights information to young people irrespective of the prevailing age of consent. This provision will empower them to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

scholarly journals Child Marriage and Sexual Autonomy among Women in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from 31 Demographic and Health Surveys

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 3754
Author(s):  
Eugene Budu ◽  
Bright Opoku Ahinkorah ◽  
Abdul-Aziz Seidu ◽  
John Elvis Hagan ◽  
Wonder Agbemavi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Odds Ratio ◽  
Health Surveys ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Basic Education ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Child Marriage ◽  
Demographic And Health Surveys ◽  
Crude Odds Ratio ◽  
Sexual Autonomy ◽  
Sub Saharan

Child marriage has a variety of undesirable consequences at the peril of women’s health and autonomy. In this study, we examined the association between child marriage and sexual autonomy among women in sub-Saharan Africa. We utilised data from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys conducted in 31 countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2010 and 2019. A total of 218,578 women aged 20–49 were included in this study. Multivariable binary logistic regression models were used to show the association between child marriage and sexual autonomy. Crude odds ratio (cOR) and adjusted odds ratio (aOR) were used in presenting the results. The prevalence of child marriage and sexual autonomy was 44.51% and 83.35%, respectively. Compared to women who married at 18 years or above, those who married at less than 18 were less likely to have sexual autonomy, and this persisted after controlling for important covariates. In terms of the country-specific results, women who experienced child marriage were less likely to have sexual autonomy in Burundi, Congo DR, Nigeria, and Niger. With the covariates, lower odds of sexual autonomy were found among women with no formal education, those whose partners had no formal education, those who were not exposed to media, and non-working women. Child marriage was found to be associated with sexual autonomy. There is a need to strengthen policies and programmes such as compulsory basic education, poverty alleviation, and an increase in access to media that aim at reducing child marriage. These interventions will help to improve sexual autonomy among women, especially in this 21st century where individuals and organisations incessantly advocate for gender equality.

scholarly journals WHAT INFLUENCES CHILD DIETARY DIVERSITY? EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM SINDA DISTRICT OF EASTERN ZAMBIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Bupe Mulenga
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
Dietary Diversity ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Dietary Diversity Score ◽  
Sectoral Approach ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Livestock Rearing

It is well documented in various studies carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa that dietary diversity is a major chal- lenge for most households. This is true even in places that are known to produce a wide variety of food. Therefore, the pur- pose of this study was to determine the levels of child dietary diversity and to understand the factors that influence child di- etary diversity. The study empirically established that child dietary diversity in Sinda district of Eastern Zambia was low, with a mean dietary diversity score of 3.6. The factors sig- nificantly influencing child dietary diversity were found to be the mothers’ education, age of child, ownership of livestock and participation in nutrition trainings. It is recommended to invest in strategies that will promote maternal education, di- versification of crops and livestock rearing and the scaling up of nutrition trainings based on a multi-sectoral approach.

Child Marriage and Underweight in Sub-Saharan Africa: A 35 Country Cross-National Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. S25-S26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvette Efevbera ◽  
Jacqueline Bhabha ◽  
Paul Farmer ◽  
Günther Fink
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
National Study ◽  
Child Marriage ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Cross National Study ◽  
Cross National
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