Maternal Health Concern For The Development Of A Country

Maternal health is an essential concern for the development of a country. It is essential to ensure the health of the children and the whole family. However, maternal and child health remains one of the main concerns for the healthcare system in almost all countries across the globe. The issue remains a concern, and even one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is about improving maternal health. The 5th-millennium development goal was to improve maternal health. The goal has two primary targets: 1) to reduce the maternal mortality rate by 75 per cent and to achieve universal access to reproductive health (“WHO | MDG 5,” 2015).

There are several contributing factors to poor maternal health, and one of the main factors is child marriage. Approximately 700 million women are married and get married before their 18th birthday (Svanemyr, Chandra-Mouli, Raj, Travers, & Sundaram, 2015). Child marriage is not a human rights violation but also a barrier to achieving health, development, and gender equality for countries. The rates of child marriage are still alarmingly high, and it is estimated that approximately 39000 girls marry too young every day, which means 14.2 million girls annually (“WHO | Child marriages: 39,000 every day,” 2013). Child marriage will impact the health of the girls because it leads to the initiation of sexual activity at an age when the girls are still in the puberty stage and their bodies are developing. The girls at such a young age are not physically, mentally, or emotionally ready to give birth. Because of this, girls at this age are at greater risk of maternal death, death during pregnancy, injuries during labour, or other pregnancy-related injuries (Raj, 2010). Younger girls are usually married to older men, and they are also under pressure to prove their fertility. In addition, the younger girls have no say in the decision or the opinion about safe sex perspective. The girls are also at risk of early pregnancies, acquiring HIV infections and other maternal infections such as obstetric fistula (Svanemyr et al., 2015).

The girls are also married at a young age, which means that their education is also not complete, putting them more at risk of unawareness and increasing the percentage of uneducated women. Also the intimate partner violence rate is also high in child marriages (Raj, 2010). Lack of education, poverty, gender biases, traditions, and patriarchy are some of the reasons for child marriage. Child marriage is one of the sole reasons for repeated pregnancies and early pregnancies. Several solutions have been proposed, but one of the main solutions is to educate the parents and empower the girls. Health services should focus on educating young girls and women, whether formally or informally, about reproductive health issues (Svanemyr et al., 2015). The focus of education should be skill building and other generating activities. Empowering girls and communicating directly with girls will help them know their rights and encourage them to work for themselves (Raj, 2010). Involving the male members of society can also be effective in reducing child marriage in communities and countries. Also, countries should have some regulations and policies about child marriage, and policies should be more than paperwork and implemented widely.