Source: Tanzania Daily News
IT was reported in the press at the weekend that more and more girls were dropping out of school to get married. This unfortunate scenario has also led to an increase in the number of under-age mothers, obstetric fistulas and broken marriages. Child marriages are not a new phenomenon.

Some girls are married off even before the statutory age of 16. Of course, we are aware that the state is now trying to eradicate this misguided practice. But progress is painfully slow.

It is imperative to mention here that even the statutory age of 16 is inappropriate. And in some cases some girls get married at the tender age of 14 -- with parental consent. This is child marriage - a societal canker the medical world resents. This statutory marriage age should be elevated to 18, the age of majority.

It should be expressly understood that a girl aged 16 years is not biologically ripe to make children. She may be tall and robust. She may even look heftier than her own mother. But the reality is that she remains unripe for the critical task of managing a pregnancy, excruciating labour pains and delivery.

Under-age marriage, in fact, is one of the principal causes of the now numerous pregnancy complications and deaths in young mothers. Child marriage also denies the unfortunate girls access to education. A girl aged 14 or 15 years, for example, is expected to be a Form Two or Three student somewhere - not someone's "lovely wife!"

This diabolical practice should be treated with the contempt it deserves. In some shocking cases girls aged ten years are married off. This may sound far-fetched but it is the hard reality that exists in some tribal settings. According to a report by the Women's Dignity Project, obstetric fistulas are common complications among under-age mothers. Women who have the fistula are often the very young. Most of them are normally too poor to attend health services.

So, many often try to deliver at home. Apart from being poor, these young mothers, mainly in rural areas, are ignorant about motherhood. Obstetric fistula can occur because the woman's pelvis is too small; the baby's head is too big or the baby is badly positioned. The woman can be in labour for five days or more.

In most cases the baby dies. If the mother survives, she is left with extensive tissue damage to her birth canal that renders her incontinent - either of her bladder or bowel functions. So, parents who marry off their under-age daughters fail to protect them from health hazards, exploitation, cruelty and arbitrary separation from the family. They also deny them the prospect for education and chance to develop full potential.

• Tanzania