Early marriages costing sub-Sahara trillions

Children march to call for an end to child marriages in Narok County. PHOTO: JECKONIA OTIENO on  23 March 2017

Some 41,000 under-age girls marry every day in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a World Bank report released yesterday.

The practice also costs trillions of shillings in lost revenue in the countries where it is rampant.

The 'Economic impacts of child marriages: Global synthesis' survey, carried out in 106 countries, notes that sub-Saharan countries make up the majority of the 25 countries globally that account for the bulk of child marriages.

Estimates from the study suggest that at least one in three girls still marries before the age of 18, and almost one in five has her first child before 18, also referred to as early childbirth.

Globally, the welfare benefits that would be reaped through lower population growth by ending child marriages reached $566 billion (over Sh58 trillion) per year by 2010. The benefits are valued at Sh22 billion in 2015, $44.8 billion (Sh4.6 trillion) in 2016 and $68.6 billion (Sh7.1 trillion) in 2017.

In Kenya, Uganda and Zambia, a lack of comprehensive sexuality education and access to youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services contributes to early pregnancies that very often lead to early marriage.

In Uganda, the research found pregnancy, at 23 per cent, was the reason for dropping out of upper secondary level.

Worldwide, Bangladesh leads in early child marriages for girls at 59.4 per cent. Burkina Faso is second at 49.8 per cent and Uganda is 24th at 36.5 per cent.

The cost of early childbirth was $27.8 billion (Sh2.8 trillion) in 2015, $56.3 billion (Sh5.8 trillion) in 2016 and $86.2 billion (Sh8.9 trillion) in 2017, and is projected to shoot to $707.5 billion (Sh73.3 trillion) in 2030.

Impacts of child marriage and early childbirths on health, nutrition and violence are immense and likely to cause at least 84 per cent of births of children from mothers younger than 18.

Being born of a mother younger than 18 increases the risk of under-five mortality by 3.5 per cent and also increases the risk of under-five stunting to 6.3 per cent. [Protus Onyango]