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    Preventing Child Marriage: Protecting Girls' Health: WWW - Usaid.gov

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    Fajar KaKöi
    Child marriage is common in developing countries, exposing girls to health risks from early pregnancy and childbirth. Poverty, lack of education, and cultural traditions often drive the practice. USAID supports programs in multiple countries to address this issue through community mobilization, increasing awareness of legal marriage ages, and providing girls with alternatives like education and work opportunities. Examples of successful programs include establishing girls' committees in Ethiopian schools and legal advocacy networks in India.

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    Preventing Child Marriage: Protecting Girls' Health: WWW - Usaid.gov

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    Fajar KaKöi
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    Child marriage is common in developing countries, exposing girls to health risks from early pregnancy and childbirth. Poverty, lack of education, and cultural traditions often drive the practice. USAID supports programs in multiple countries to address this issue through community mobilization, increasing awareness of legal marriage ages, and providing girls with alternatives like education and work opportunities. Examples of successful programs include establishing girls' committees in Ethiopian schools and legal advocacy networks in India.

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    Child marriage is common in developing countries, exposing girls to health risks from early pregnancy and childbirth. Poverty, lack of education, and cultural traditions often drive the practice. USAID supports programs in multiple countries to address this issue through community mobilization, increasing awareness of legal marriage ages, and providing girls with alternatives like education and work opportunities. Examples of successful programs include establishing girls' committees in Ethiopian schools and legal advocacy networks in India.

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    Preventing Child Marriage: Protecting Girls' Health: WWW - Usaid.gov

    Uploaded by

    Fajar KaKöi
    Child marriage is common in developing countries, exposing girls to health risks from early pregnancy and childbirth. Poverty, lack of education, and cultural traditions often drive the practice. USAID supports programs in multiple countries to address this issue through community mobilization, increasing awareness of legal marriage ages, and providing girls with alternatives like education and work opportunities. Examples of successful programs include establishing girls' committees in Ethiopian schools and legal advocacy networks in India.

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    Preventing Child Marriage: Protecting Girls Health

    Significant numbers of girls in the developing world are married before they reach adulthood. Marriage too early can prevent
    them from accessing health services or attaining educational, economic, or social opportunities. Historically, early marriages have
    been used to secure critical social, economic, and political alliances for families or clans. Today, poverty, malnutrition, poor
    educational and economic options, concern regarding virginity, as well as traditions and cultural norms, are all cited as contextual
    factors surrounding child marriage.(1)

    Worldwide, millions of girls aged 15 to 19 years are married each year, exposing them to the risks associated with early sexual
    activity and pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, social exclusion, and gender-based violence. Studies have found that child marriage often
    coexists with other poor reproductive health practices, including female genital cutting (FGC), cross-generational sex (spousal
    age gaps), gender-based violence, a higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, and obstetric
    fistula, a highly stigmatized condition involving incontinence brought on as a result of prolonged labor.(2)

    With rising international concern around child marriage, U.S. government officials and legislators have become increasingly
    interested in addressing the practice.

    What USAID Is Doing


    USAID supports a number of programs at the local and country level that aim to reduce child marriage. Experience has shown
    that effective interventions are long term and must engage community and religious leaders, women, men, and adolescents, and
    be reinforced by messages about the risks of child marriage. Although many of these programs are relatively new, significant
    impact is already being measured in the regions where USAID partners work.

    Currently, USAID supports research and evaluation activities to identify successful program models that could be replicated
    in coming years. Program components focus on enforcement and awareness of legislation stipulating the legal age at marriage,
    community mobilization, life skills and health training, and alternative educational, economic, and social opportunities for girls.

    Focusing on Delaying First Birth


    through Radio Programs in Nepal
    In Nepal, child marriage and early
    childbearing are subjects often included in
    widely broadcast radio dramas. The shows
    intend to raise public awareness about the
    dangers associated with child marriage
    including the health consequences of girls
    becoming pregnant and giving birth before
    their bodies are fully grown.

    Community Mobilization to Increase


    the Age of Marriage in Egypt
    A deeply rooted belief exists in the
    Egyptian culture that early marriage is
    better for girls. By spreading the message
    that delaying marriage can improve
    womens health and provide other
    advantages to girls and their families,
    USAID partners are working to increase
    the average age of marriage of girls in
    Egypt. This broad-based community

    www.usaid.gov
    mobilization project includes the airing of messages about the dangers and health consequences of early marriage on local TV
    and radio stations; the use of community outreach workers to spread the message about delaying marriage; and training of
    religious leaders on the issue to share with their congregations.

    Girls Advisory Committees in Ethiopia


    Nearly half of Ethiopian girls are married by the time they turn 18. USAID partners have established girls advisory committees in
    association with more than 3,700 public schools in eight regions of the country to prevent child marriages and encourage both
    unmarried and married girls to attend school. The committees communicate with parents, teachers, and religious leaders about
    the dangers of child marriage and the importance of girls continuing their education. The committees have been responsible for
    stopping more than 4,000 child marriages and keeping many more girls in school.

    The Womens Legal Rights Initiative in India


    USAID funds the training of lawyers and counselors in two Indian states on various womens issues including the legal age of
    marriage. Within a network of womens self-help groups, these legal professionals also conduct workshops for local police and
    religious leaders on the issue of child marriage. The network also successfully encouraged the government of one Indian state
    to amend its Child Marriage Restraint Act and create a provision to appoint child marriage prevention officers.

    State Department Response


    The U.S. Department of State recently collected information about the legal age of marriage, the extent of underage marriage,
    and any efforts to combat child marriage from all embassies. According to 178 responses received by the Office of the Senior
    Coordinator for International Womens Issues, child marriage is considered to be a problem in 62 countries. Of these countries,
    25 are in sub-Saharan Africa, 11 in Europe and Eurasia, eight in the Western Hemisphere, seven in East Asia, six in the Near
    East, and five in South Asia. In most regions, child marriage was reported to occur more in rural areas, with poverty and local
    customs as some of the major driving forces.(3)

    Resources:
    (1) ICRW. Too Young to Wed: the lives, rights, and health of young married girls, 2003: http://www.icrw.org/photoessay/pdfs/tooyoungtowed_1003.pdf; UNICEF.
    Early Marriage: a harmful traditional practice, 2005: http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Early_Marriage_12.lo.pdf; (2) National Research Council. Growing Up
    Global, National Academy of Sciences, 2005; (3) Department of State. Poverty, Illiteracy, and Child Marriage: A U.S. Response, 2005:
    http://www.state.gov/g/wi/53161.htm; (4) WHO/UNFPA/Population Council. Married Adolescents: An Overview, 2003: http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/MA-
    Overview.pdf; (5) WHO/UNFPA/Population Council. Including Married Adolescents in Adolescent Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS Policy, 2003:
    http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/CMImplications.pdf; (6) YouthNet: YouthLens. Early Marriage and Adolescent Girls, Family Health International, 8/2005:
    http://www.fhi.org/; (7) Save the Children. Children Having Children: State of the Worlds Mothers, 2004:
    http://www.savethechildren.org/mothers/report_2004/index.asp

    Prepared November 2006

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