41 per cent of girls in Northwest still marry before the age of 15, says report

A non-governmental organisation, Save the Children International has said that 41 percent of girls in the Northwest still marry below the age of 15years.

The organisation said this in its latest report titled “Reaching and Empowering Adolescents in Health (REACH)” carried out in Gombe, Kastina and Zamfara state.

According to Save the Children, 2018 adolescent girls who were married before the age of 15 years were 54 percent but has been reduced to 41 percent.

The Programme Director for REACH, Rahinatu Hussaini who disclosed this at the Close-out of the project yesterday in Abuja maintained that although teenage childbearing in the Northwest and the North-East had dropped, it is still an issue that needs to be addressed.

According to Hussaini, teenage pregnancy in the Northwest dropped from 36 percent in 2013 to 28 percent in 2018 while that of the North-East dropped from 32 to 24 percent within the same period.

Hussaini said there are still a lot of issues around Adolescents Sexual Reproductive Health in the region.

However, the Emir of Daura, Alhaji Kabir Usman cautioned Save the Children to be mindful of the culture and sensitivity of the faith of the region.

(The Nation)