With less than two years to reach the Millennium Development Goals the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is intensifying its efforts to reduce maternal mortality.
In Mozambique half of all girls are married before the age of 18 and Mozambique has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world with 490 women out of every 100,000 dying in childbirth. Efforts are being made in Mozambique to increase institutional births and alleviate the shortage of midwifes. Adolescent marriage carries many health risks including increased risk of death in childbirth and a significantly greater risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. In many adolescent marriages the husband is significantly older than the bride resulting in increased risk for physical abuse, sexual violence, and lack of protected sex.
According to UN estimates another 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011-2020 if more is not done to combat the practice. About one third will be under the age of 15 when they marry and carry a significantly higher risk of dying in childbirth.
Ahead of talks at the UN this week, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Salil Shetty, said
Where is the remedy for the millions of women who continue to suffer and, in many cases, die needlessly during pregnancy and childbirth because discrimination and a range of socio-economic barriers prevent them accessing sexual and reproductive health services? Maternal health is a human right.
The UN is hosting a Millennium Development Goal forum on September 23rd to catalyze action towards achieving all eight of the MDG’s and to encourage continued campaigning for human rights beyond the 2015 deadline.
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Additional Resources:
The UN on women’s health (updated September 2013).
The UN MDG page can be viewed here.
A child marriage fact sheet from the International Center for Research on Women
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