Underage marriage can have unfortunate consequences: Doctors

KABUL (Pajhwok): Pregnancy at an age younger than 18 years can cause health problems for both the mother and baby, therefore underage marriages should be avoided, gynecologists and specialists said on Saturday.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, gynecologist Khadija Misbah said 18 years of age and above was the best age for pregnancy.

“At 18, the growth of a girl’s body completes, she does not face anemia, if she gets married and pregnant, she would give birth to a healthy baby”.

Khadija said: “If a girl gets pregnant before 18 years of age and then gives birth to a child, this child will be malnourished, prone to illnesses and their mothers would lose more blood, become weak and face more health problems which would make them unable to carry normal pregnancies.”

Preferring pregnancy after 18 years of age, Khadija emphasized that: “Marriages before 18 years of age have more social, mental and economic problems and also cause premature births, disabilities and anemia in children.”

She said under age mothers could experience miscarriages, anemia or high blood pressure.

“Marriages of girls before reaching 18 years of age also deprive them of educations and put a huge responsibility on their shoulders which make them think less about their education and stay busy serving their in-laws”.

Such girls could not continue their life normally because they lack experience and become impatient to continue their lives and even in some cases such marriages end up in separation, Khadija concluded.

This is a common issue not only confined to Afghanistan.

Khadija said 10 percent of patients visiting her each month were women married before 18 years of age.

She advised families to refrain from marrying their girls before reaching 18 years of age, let them complete their education and reach their full growth because life after their marriage would put huge responsibilities on their shoulders.

Doctress Farzana also admitted such phenomena existed in other countries as well.

She said: “Marriage before the age of 18 years is a common issue in Afghanistan, even some families force their girls into such marriages.”

Farzana treats up to 100 female patients every week in her hospital, including those who got married before 18 years of ages.

She also pointed to unfortunate consequences of marriages under the age of 18 years and said: “If mothers under 18 years of age giver birth, they face more blood loss after the childbirth, some of their children are conceived dead, mentally retarded or in some unfortunate cases their mothers die during the birth of their children.”

She added underage marriages led to disagreements in shared life and sometimes to divorce.

According to Farzana, in some cases, underage marriages take place without the consent of the girl, who becomes dis-interested in their shared life with her husband and he also becomes dis-interested in his spouse and children and tries to look for a second marriage.

Based on investigation, the most suitable age for marriages is between 21 and 29 years.

She said if a marriage is imposed on girls by their families, or if the families wish to give their girls to their in-laws soon, if problems arise from such marriages, these families do not pay any attention to their solution.

Farzana advised all families to let their girls reach full growth of their mental, physical, economic, social and education and then start their other period of life.

Farzana believed families must be given awareness about the bad consequences of child or under age marriages.

aw/ma