Global Health

Study Shows High Rates of Child Marriage and Maternal Death Across Nigeria

The Nigerian Demographic Health Survey of 2013 (NDHS) revealed persistently high child marriage rates and a need for increased family planning resources in Nigeria.

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via Jordi C for Shutterstock

Nigeria accounts for 13 percent of global maternal death rates, with 36,000 women dying in pregnancy or child birth each year. An estimated 222 million women around the world wish to either delay or prevent pregnancy, but lack access to contraceptives – and Nigeria is no exception. The NDHS revealed that only 9.8 percent of Nigerian women use family planning, while 16.1 percent have an unmet need for family planning services. Although Nigeria has made significant progress in decreasing maternal deaths across the nation, the study also showed that only half of Nigerian women had four antenatal care visits and only 38 percent of births were assisted by an attendant. 70 percent of Nigeria’s deaths are caused by abortion complications, hemorrage, eclampsia, or sepsis.

Additionally, as many as 17 million girls across Africa, or 1 in 3, are married before age 18, often against their will. According to the NDHS, 78 percent of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are married in Nigeria’s Jigawa state, making it the state with the most early marriages, but child marriage rates across Nigeria often outpace those in other nations around the world. Girls who are married as children face sexual violence and abuse, are more likely to suffer from maternal death and injury due to early pregnancies or other complications and less likely to get an education.

The African Union launched its first campaign to end child marriage last month, and the Child Rights Act raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 for girls when it was passed in 2003, but federal law is sometimes implemented differently at the state level, and only a few of Nigeria’s states have acted to implement the law. The UNFPA has urged Nigeria to take additional action to prevent 4.6 million girls from marrying before 18 by 2030.

“Ending child marriage requires strategies for girls’ empowerment, social and cultural norms change, legal reform and policy action,” the UNFPA stated to the Daily Times. “Proven solutions involve girls schooling (especially lower secondary) and programmes that offer life skills, literacy, health information and services that offer life skills, literacy, health information and services, and social support.”

Media Resources: Daily Times of Nigeria 7/13/14; UNFPA Nigeria; Feminist Newswire 6/2/14, Feminist Majority Foundation / Feminist Campus

TAKE ACTION! Organize on campus for global women’s reproductive rights with Feminist Campus, and sign FMF’s petition to integrate HIV/AIDS services with family planning services across the globe.

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