Pakistan: Where Mothers Are Also Children

Most South Asian nations struggle with the twin problems of early marriage and teenage pregnancy, making it crucial to tackle both simultaneously, experts say. Credit: Zofeen Ebrahim/IPSBy Zofeen EbrahimKARACHI, Pakistan, Jul 11 2014 (IPS) If 22-year-old Rashda Naureen could go back six years in time, she would never have agreed to get married at the tender age of 16. “Looking back, I know I was not ready for marriage,” she told IPS. “How could I have been, being merely a child myself?” With only a third-grade education, Naureen became a mother at 17 and got a divorce soon after she delivered. According to Naureen’s mother, Perween Bibi, who works for a small daily wage as a cleaning woman in Pakistan, “I have two more daughters [in addition to two sons] and we gave Rashda away in order to have one less responsibility on our hands.” Nearly 7.3 million teenage girls become pregnant every year -- of these, two million are aged 14 or younger.But the opposite turned out to be true. Today Bibi and her husband, who is a private chauffeur, must now find a way to provide for their grandson in a family of seven struggling to survive. Perhaps the most unfortunate part of the story is that Naureen’s pregnancy could easily have been avoided. “Before marriage my best friend urged me to take contraceptive pills, but I refused to listen to her,” Naureen confessed. “Even my husband, who had been forced to marry me by his parents, said we should wait, but...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Asia-Pacific Development & Aid Education Featured Gender Headlines Health Population Poverty & MDGs Regional Categories TerraViva United Nations Women's Health World Motherhood in Childhood Bangladesh Child Brides India M Source Type: news