Dialogue with Girls on the impact of child marriage and teenage pregnancy

Dialogue with Girls on the impact of child marriage and teenage pregnancy

Context:
One of the challenges confronting adolescents is teenage pregnancy. Adolescent pregnancies are a global problem occurring across high, middle and low-income countries. However, adolescent pregnancies are more likely to occur in marginalized communities, commonly driven by poverty and lack of education and employment opportunities. Adolescents who may want to avoid pregnancies may not be able to do so due to knowledge gaps. An additional cause of unintended pregnancy is sexual violence, which is widespread with more than a third of girls in some countries reporting that their first sexual encounter was coerced.
At least 10 million unintended pregnancies occur each year among adolescent girls aged 15- 19 years in developing regions. An additional cause of unintended pregnancy is sexual violence, which is widespread with more than a third of girls in some countries reporting that their first sexual encounter was coerced. This Interactive Knowledge update is an attempt to better understand the health consequences of child marriage and teenage pregnancy.

Problem at a glance:
• Women who are married at the age between 15-17 years are more likely to experience stillbirth, miscarriage, pregnancy complications and post- natal complications
• In India, more than 50% of adolescents who are married before 18 end up giving birth to a baby before they become adults
• During the COVID 19 Pandemic, 1.5 billion children have been affected worldwide, two immediate consequences on children predicted worldwide is the precipitation of child labour and child marriage.

At the International Center for Child and Public Health(ICPH) of Shanti Ashram, our synergy model focuses on providing clinical (curative) and public health (preventive) services to adolescent children and their families, along with investing in research (to identify best practices) and simultaneously building capacities of the healthcare providers and communities seeking to advance adolescent health. This is why Shanti Ashram, has added to its COVID 19 Response and its already implemented 13 interventions, 2 more interventions one to prevent child marriage & teenage pregnancy and the other to prevent child labour.
This is a joint initiative of two committed & socially conscious professional organizations.

Programme