Adolescent Sexual and ReproductiveHealth (ASRH) is one of five areas of focus of the WorldBanks Reproductive Health Action Plan 2010-2015 (RHAP),which recognizes the importance of addressing ASRH as adevelopment issue with important implications for povertyreduction. Delaying childbearing and preventing unintendedpregnancies during adolescence has been shown to schooling,future employment, and earnings (Greene Merrick, 2005).Early marriage often marks the beginning of exposure to therisk of pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections(STIs). Research has shown that adolescent marriage isassociated with unplanned pregnancy, rapid repeatchildbirth, inadequate use of maternal health services, andpoor birth outcomes, among other negative maternal and childhealth outcomes (Godha, Hotchkiss, and Gage, 2013; RajBoehmer, 2013; Santhya, 2011). Furthermore, research inEthiopia has found that adolescent females who marry beforethe age of 15 are at higher risk of intimate partnerviolence and coercive sex than those who marry between ages15-18 (Erulkar, 2013). At the 65th World Health Assembly,representatives agreed that early marriage is a violation ofthe rights of children and adolescents. Early marriage isillegal in most of the places where it occurs. It limitsyoung girls autonomy, knowledge, resources, anddecision-making power (World Bank, 2014). Adolescentmarriage is also much more likely to affect females thanmales: in the developing world, 16 percent of females aremarried in comparison to 3 percent of males (UNFPA, 2013).
PDF
download
878987797
028-85220240
