TEENAGE MARRIAGE:ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

[lionger]

Pregnancy and childbirth are leading causes of death in teenage girls in developing countries

Susan Mayor

London

Complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death in young women aged 15 to 19 in developing countries, warned a report published last week. An estimated 70 000 adolescent mothers die each year because they have children before they are physically ready for parenthood, the report says.

The fifth annual State of the World's Mothers report, published by the international charity Save the Children, found that 13 million births (a tenth of all births worldwide) each year are to women aged under 20, and more than 90% of these births are in developing countries.

Overall, a third of women from developing countries gave birth before the age of 20—ranging from 8% in east Asia to 55% in west Africa. Analysis of the most recent and best quality data from government statistics for different countries or from international surveys showed that complications from pregnancy and childbirth were the leading cause of death for girls aged 15 to 19 years in poorer countries.

Figures showed that girls in this age group were twice as likely as older women to die from causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Their babies were 50% more likely to die than children born to women in their 20s. The youngest mothers—those aged 14 and under—faced the greatest risks. Research from Bangladesh showed that the risk of maternal mortality may be five times higher for mothers aged 10 to 14 than for mothers aged 20 to 24.

Obstructed labour was found to be common in teenage girls, resulting in increased risk of infant death and of maternal death or disability. The report also showed that young mothers and their babies were at greater risk of contracting HIV.

The report included an "early motherhood risk" ranking that identified countries where motherhood was most devastating for young girls and their babies. Nine of the 10 highest risk countries were in sub-Saharan Africa, with Niger, Liberia, and Mali topping the list. Countries outside Africa with high risk scores included Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Haiti, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Yemen.

In the 10 highest risk countries, more than one in six teenage girls aged 15 to 19 gave birth each year and nearly one in seven babies born to these teenagers died before the age of 1 year. The rankings were based on marriage and birth rates among teenage girls in each country as well as on infant mortality for children born to teenage mothers.

The risk of maternal mortality was one in seven in Niger (at the bottom of the ranking) but only one in 29 800 in the lowest risk country, Sweden.



So is teenage marriage in our society still a good idea? Never mind that this is just the physiological side of things (pregnancy). As you have mentioned there are also mental and psychological factors. How many teens in our society are truly mentally prepared for marriage? And what about the often huge disparity in age b/w wife and husband? All this gives cause for one to wonder.

[Dave McEwan Hill]

As Lionger and others in the past have pointed out there is an epidemic of sex assaulting much of the Western world which runs parallel with the abandoning of religion. However it is important not to mix up the three differnt aspects of this issue - legality, sexuality and morality. In the West a lot has changed over the last century. In particular improved standards of living and nutrition has meant that young people are physically stronger and mature at a younger age (though not necessarily mentally)
In the West however nearly all underage sexual activity happens between boys and girls of about the same  age - eg in the same class at school etc and it is rare for such to happen between adolescent girls and mature men (and this is always dealt with very severely by the authorities). This is a very important distinction. Authorities are not inclined to make criminal charges against young people "experimenting" with each other (though strictly speaking all sex under sixteen years in UK is legally unlawful).
In physical terms most girls are physically mature enough to bear children from 13 to 14 year of age (it varies a bit) but I would be deeply concerned about most of them in terms of maturity and I would worry that pregnancy below that age is very unwise or cruel.
In UK most girls pregnant under sixteen are offered the choice of having the child or having a medical abortion. Many in UK oppose abortion on principal on religious and also medical grounds as do I. There are many agencies who encourage and support those who wish to carry the child and thankfully the damage that abortion can do to a girl or woman, physically or psychologically, is better understood now.
The major problem in all of this is men who do not have the discipline or good sense to control themselves when they see a possibilty of having sexual relations with girls who are very young.

[HUSNAA]

Age of puberty in girls can be a bit earlier than 12. Some girls have been known to start menstruating at age 9. It is not very common though but it shows that women's physiological and mental development is very fast.  Hayyat wants to know why I put 18 as a suitable marriage age. Well I think it is a subconscious indoctrination on my part. but it is also because a girl develops mentally much faster than a boy, so by the time she is 18, she can be counted upon to act and behave like a responsible adult. It all depends on the upbringing ofcourse.

What this means, though, is that teenage pregnancy in the West is not the same as teenage pregnancy in other parts of the world, especially the underdeveloped world. In the latter, teenage pregnancy almost always occurs within marriage and is a desired and 'planned' event. But in sharp contrast, teenage pregnancy in the West is unwanted and a social problem; most pregnant teens didn't want to get pregnant, and much less married. As such, in some places like Canada, up to half of teenage pregnancies end in abortion.

So this brings us back to our society. We (sub-Saharan Africa) have the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in the world - above 10%. Nigeria's rate is about 100 per 1000 heads (about 10%). In Europe, the rate is lower than 1%; in the US and Canada, around 3% I think. So if there's any epidemic in teenage pregnancies in the world, its in our society first and foremost. Noting these facts, I will now post the contents of the article I posted a link to earlier, which points out the grim consequences for a good deal of pregnant teens in sub-Saharan Africa. This will be in a separate post.

One would be forgiven if he comes to the conclusion it is not the pregnancy per se that the people are against,but the marriage in itself.This is because it is deemed legal to have sex with 13- 15 yrs old in the above countries in so far as they consent to the act,but is regarded as criminal to marry such persons.
So what is the solution?

I think there is a solution. It is not easy to implement however, because it means reorienting ppl's mindsets. We all know that it will be difficult to abolish child marriages not only within African societies but other third world societies and the mainly muslim population residing in rural areas that give out the girls in marriage at such a tender age. We also know that one of the reasons for the early marriage  is  so that the girl doesnt become 'wayward'. It is also a well known fact that a girl who isnt receiving a  western education has a high likelihood of ending up being married at an unduly early age in third world societies as compared with her counterpart who is getting aWestern education. Well anyway, the solution to this is for the girls to be married off at the early age since there is no helping it. However, giving birth  should be delayed till she reaches the age where she is medically certifiable to go through the 9 months of pregnancy and safely deliver a child. In other words the girl and her husband should be senstized to the use of birth control methods to stop her getting pregnant until such a time as she is capable. That should take care of the possibility of young girls becoming victims of VVF.  So the means of using contraceptives amongst these married little girls should be encouraged. But like I said, it involves having to change the mindsets of the men (husbands) in particular who have the absolute final say in the matter and are more likely to frown upon the idea of their young wives using contraceptives. They in all probability wouldnt mind that she doesnt get pregnant for some yrs to come, but the  thought of using contraceptives to delay the pregnancy, is an anthema to the minds of some men who look at family planning as a sacrilegious practice. Another thing that will act in opposition to the use of contraceptives is this attitude of expecting the girl to 'deliver' nine or ten months hence from the time she herself is delivered into the husband's house. If it takes more than a yr before any signs of physiological changes are detected in her body, the husband's relatives start to niggle and nag..

'Ba tuwo muka kawo ki kizo ki ci ba', ko dai sai munkawo wata wadda za ta zo ta zuba mana kwayaye ne?'..

So attitudes like these dont really help the matter. However, I feel this is a solution that could possibly work, but it will be a very steep uphill struggle.