Early Marriage and delivery problems

 Written by: Wahida Sabir

Childhood marriage is prevalent in Afghanistan.The decisions for early marriage of girls are made by families in Afghanistan and most of such girls give birth every year. Girls and adolescents are far likelier to die of causes related to pregnancy than older girls due to the lack of access to necessary health information.

Writer/producer AEPO has talked to some mothers and a gynecologist in Malalai Maternity Hospital, Kabul city about this issue.

A mother says: when I married, I was 12 years old and got pregnant. I aborted my first child and I faced with fistula and could not control my urine.

Another mother says: when I was 15 years old, I got married. I delivered my first baby after an operation and during delivery of my second baby, they took out my womb and I am not able to be pregnant anymore.

Doctor Katayun, a gynecologist says:

girls who marry during their childhood, they are developed properly, neither physically nor psychologically. They are frequently denied access to education and are subject to different types of diseases arising from abnormal births and isolation.

 Child marriage violates many of the children’s rights such as a right to education, to dignity, and to proper health services.

The mother, who do not reach their maturity would be faced many problems during delivery. Blood pressure, anemia, calcium deficiency, joint pain, and fistula are early marriage problems and the main cause of mothers’ death during delivery is also early marriage.

The babies of such women would not be fed well and most of them would face with malnutrition.