admin | September 14, 2020
This week’s Farmer story from Zimbabwe talks about the increased incidence of child marriage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Script of the week is a backgrounder that deals with early marriage and a variety of other issues related to adolescent reproductive and sexual health. The backgrounder focuses on Burkina Faso, but the issues are very similar in many countries.
The harmful effects of early marriage and pregnancy include:
- Dropping out of school
- Maternal mortality
- Obstetrical fistulas
- Physical and psychological violence
- Nearly 7,050 cases of pregnancy were registered in schools during the 2016-17 school year [in Burkina Faso], of which more than 600 were at the primary level.
Other sections in the backgrounder include:
- Why is it important to talk about it?
- Barriers to communication about reproductive health
- Essential information
- Early sexual activity
- Factors contributing to early sexual activity
- Early marriage
- Signs of responsible sexual behaviour in adolescents
- Abortion in Burkina Faso
- The prevalence of HIV and AIDS
- The use of alcohol
- Female genital mutilation
- Strategies for promoting sexual and reproductive health in adolescents
- Effective health worker attitudes and strategies to promote sexual and reproductive health