KUCHING: Girls aged 15 to 19 are twice more likely to die during delivery than women aged 20 to 24.
This was revealed by Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing, Datuk Hajah Fatimah Abdullah at the launching of Girls’ Voices: Speaking Up Against Child Marriage exhibition at The Spring here, yesterday.
She said, girls who marry early have a higher mortality rate than their unmarried peers.
“Teenage pregnancy carries serious health risks including death- for both girls and their babies.
“Babies born to mothers under 20 years of age in low and middle income countries face a 50 per cent higher risk of stillbirth or dying in the first few weeks, compared to babies born to mothers aged 20 to 29,” she pointed out.
She added, once married, girls often end their education and this means that they cannot fully contribute to their own wellbeing, family economy and society.
“In 2016, there were 2,481 teenage pregnancies and out of these, 50 per cent are married.
“As girls are often married to much older men, child marriage underpins gender inequality. Neither physically nor emotionally ready to become wives and mothers, they are at greater risks of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, contracting HIV/AIDS and suffering domestic violence.
“Child marriage often forces girls out of school and inhibits their chance to break out of poverty. With little access to education and economic opportunities, they and their families are more likely to live in poverty.
“It increases their risk of passing poverty onto the next generation in an intergenerational cycle of deprivation,” explained Fatimah.
In 2016, there were 2,338 cases of teenage pregnancies (or 94.3 percent) of those aged 10 to 19 resulting in them having to stop schooling.
On a positive note, the teenage pregnancy trend is decreasing compared to the previous years, particularly since 2014 where the number of teenage pregnancies was recorded at more than 10 per cent per annum (the state KPI was 10 per cent).
This was the year when the state One-Stop Teenage Pregnancy Committee (OSTPC) was formed to address issues related to pregnant teenagers, said Fatimah.
The state OSTPC was aware of the social issues related to teenage pregnancies, education, legal, identification papers, marital status and social support.
Meanwhile, Canadian High Commissioner in Malaysia, Judith St. George stressed that child marriage, early and forced marriage (CEFM) is a widespread, harmful practice that threatens the lives and future of girls and women around the world.
This is the key message at the launch of Girls’ Voices: Speaking Up Against Child Marriage, a photo exhibition presented by the Government of Canada and Girls Not Brides in Kuching.
The exhibition told the untold stories of girls who were standing up for their rights and the community members advocating for change alongside them.
With an estimated 15 million girls worldwide married before their 18th birthday, the practice undermines the development of their families, communities and countries.
However, there is cause for optimism as the international momentum to end child marriage is growing. Leaders, communities, regional organisations, and girls themselves are speaking up and taking action to end child marriage.
“Canada has a long history of collaborating with global partners to protect human rights and to promote gender equality and is proud to help build international momentum to end child, early and forced marriage.
“This includes Canada’s leadership on the creation of the International Day of the Girl, developing substantive resolutions at the United Nations, and investing RM214 million (CAD$70 million) in programming support to Canadian and civil society partners worldwide,” said St. George.
She added, they welcome the leadership of the Fatimah in joining them to discuss how child, early and forced marriage negatively impacts a child’s health, education and future and how together they can work to end this practice wherever it occurs.
Girls’ Voices: Speaking Up Against Child Marriage was initially launched in Kuala Lumpur last year with the support of the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development.
The exhibition runs daily from this 10 to 12 March at 10.00am until 10.00 pm at The Spring (First Floor, North Court) and is open to the public.
Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of over 550 civil society organisations in more than 70 countries, committed to ending child marriage.
