Advocacy programme to help address teen pregnancy, child marriage — Fatimah
KUCHING: An awareness and advocacy programme on the subject of sex and human reproduction will be implemented in Sarawak next month.
According to Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, the selected zones for the ‘Programme on Educational, Awareness and Advocacy of Sexuality and Reproduction’ will include Kuching, Betong, Sarikei, Kapit, Sibu and Miri.
She disclosed this yesterday at the launch of ‘Girls’ Voices: Speaking Up Against Child Marriage’ – a photo exhibition presented by the Canadian government and ‘Girls Not Brides in Kuching’ at the Spring Shopping Mall here.
In her remarks, the minister said girls who married early risked facing higher mortality rate than their unmarried peers, in that teenage pregnancy carried serious health threats for both the girls and their babies.
“Girls aged 15 to 19 are twice as likely to die during delivery than women aged 20 to 24.
“In many low and middleincome countries, girls under the age of 20 face 50 per cent higher risk of delivering stillbirth or their babies dying in the first few weeks of life, versus mothers aged 20 to 29,” she said.
Once married, Fatimah said, girls would often end their education – meaning that they could not contribute fully to their own wellbeing, to the family’s economy and even to society.
“This is a vicious cycle – the daughters of young, uneducated mothers are also likely to drop out of school and get married early. We must work together to end that cycle.
“Parents will do what they think is best for their daughters – what they find necessary in a given cultural, economic or humanitarian context. Once their daughters get pregnant, they would try to marry them off,” she said.
Last year, there were 2,481 cases of teenage pregnancy and of this, 50 per cent of the girls were married. As girls are often married to men much older than themselves, child marriage underpins gender inequality.
These girls – neither physically nor emotionally ready to become wives and mothers – are at greater risk of experiencing dangerous complications in pregnancy and childbirth, contracting HIV/ AIDS and suffering domestic violence.
Last year, 94.3 per cent – or 2,338 – of the total teenage pregnancy cases involved those aged 10 to 19. All of them quit schooling.
“Early marriage often means that girls are expected to fulfil the role of a housewife – and soon after that, of a mother – denying them of their youth and life choices,” Fatimah said.
According to statistics obtained from the National Registration Department, between January and November last year there were 832 cases of civil marriage involving those under the age of 21.
Data of marriages registered under the state Religious Affairs Department (Jais) in 2015 stated that there were 130 marriages involving those under the age of 16.
The figure on marriages registered under Sarawak Native Council last year was 331 cases involving those under the age of 17.
On the positive side, Fatimah said the teenage pregnancy trend had been declining since 2014 – the year when the state’s One- Stop Teenage Pregnancy Committee (OSTPC) was formed.
“There has been a drop (in recorded teenage pregnancy cases) of more than 10 per cent per annum since 2014. Our state KPI ( key performance indicator) is 10 per cent.
“We must teach our young people about the negative consequences of early marriage and teenage pregnancy, as well as about their education, their health, their families and their future.
“Together, we can end child marriage and allow our children to reach their full potential,” stressed Fatimah.
The launch was witnessed by High Commissioner for Canada in Malaysia, Judith St George and Spring Shopping Mall general manager Christine Ling.