EFFECTS OF EARLY MARRIAGES

By Sandra Hanzuki and Kaweme Lwamba
GETTING pregnant is a woman’s utmost source of joy as she looks forward to seeing the fruits of her womb. This however is not the case with teen-pregnancy.

Teen-pregnancy has become a catastrophe in the country over the years. It is estimated that 50% of women in Zambia between the ages of 15-19 have been pregnant at least once in their lives.

In addition, over half of Zambia’s population consists of young people and over 80% of these young people when asked (in the recent demographic healthy survey) whether they used a condom the last time they had sex responded that they did not. This means there are a lot of teens having unprotected sex.

It is not baffling nowadays to hear teens boastfully telling their peers how many partners they have slept with.

Strangely, there is corrosive deception among teens that for someone to fit in a group of friends, s/he must be sleeping around with someone as being a virgin is no longer treasured among teens. It is treated as a sign of backwardness and traditional.

Many factors contribute to teen-pregnancy including participation in sexual activity with lack of knowledge on how pregnancy occurs.

Bars and night clubs have become a teen’s relaxing places during weekends competing with parents. A lot more than just drinking goes on in these places. Teens have resort to entertain themselves by indulging in sex leading to unwanted pregnancies.

Worse still, drug abuse has also become very rampant among these young people. Drugs put teens on additional danger of indulging into sex carelessly and end up pregnant if not they did not contract an infection or HIV.

Other factors leading to early pregnancies are forced early marriages to older men especially in villages after a girl has ‘come of age.’ These girls are married without their free and full consent. They may also lack access to effective youth friendly corners where information can be given to them on reproductive health and sexuality including contraception.

Early pregnancies cause many complications not only of a physical nature but also of a mental and socio-economic nature.

Unwanted early pregnancies lead to one’s less likeliness to complete high school specifically the girl child and also undermine girls’ development, health and aspirations.

Teen-pregnancies place grave financial and social burdens on families in that parents of the casualty have to buy baby requirements and also basic for the mother to be after giving birth. The pregnant girl faces discrimination from her peers leading to loneliness and depression.

First births carry special risks for both mother and child. The vast majority of births to adolescent girls are first births that occur within marriage. The foremost risk first births carry is prolonged or obstructed labour which can result in obstetric fistulas in settings where access to care is unlimited.

First births also have elevated risks pre-eclampsia, malaria and infant mortality. Girls who give birth during adolescence require special attention because they are less mature and are simultaneously coping with their own and their baby’s psychological, emotional and economic needs.

Generally in Zambia, adolescent mothers tend to be poorer, less educated, less adequately nourished than all the mothers and they also face greater social disadvantages.

Mrs. Alice Kasobe a mid-wife at the University of Zambia (UNZA) Clinic says when a woman is too young; pregnancy wanted or unwanted can be dangerous for both mother and infant. Complications of childbirth and unsafe abortion are among the main causes of death for women under age. Even under optimal conditions, young mothers, especially those under age 18, are more likely than women in their 20s to suffer pregnancy-related complications and to die in childbirth.
Mrs. Kasobe added that risks were higher for young women not only because of their age but also because first births to younger women are riskier than second, third, or fourth births. Below 18 years the pelvis of a woman is not yet fully developed as a result this might lead to obstructed labour. This kind of labour might be prolonged and cause a woman to have a caesarean section. Prolonged first labour may lead to foetal distress and finally foetal death.
It can also lead to a woman having a third degree tear which is a rupture from the vagina to the anus. Constant rupture of the vagina will lead to rectal-vaginal fistula. This is where feaces and urine are being expelled through the vagina.
Mrs. Kasobe explained that early pregnancy in young women may be fatal in cases where there is mal presentation of the baby. This is a situation where instead of the head coming out first from the birth canal, the buttocks or the legs are presented first. When this happens to a young woman, chances of the uterine getting ruptured are high and this might lead to Hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). This is called Cephalopelvic disproportion meaning that the woman's pelvic opening is too small to allow the infant's head to pass through during delivery can slow or prevent vaginal delivery.
She added that another deadly complication of early pregnancy in young women was excessive bleeding after delivery. The young mother may incur a psychiatric condition called Pueralsycosis which occurs within six weeks of delivery.
And Mrs. Kasobe disclosed that some of the factors that lead to early pregnancies in young women included ignorance, defilement, socioeconomic factors including poverty, malnutrition, lack of education, and lack of access to prenatal care or emergency obstetrical care.
Among the young, as with older women, risks are greatest for poor women, who are most malnourished and have the least opportunity for prenatal care.
The life-threatening complications of pregnancy that women under 20 face are the same risks that all other woman face: hemorrhage, sepsis, pregnancy-induced hypertension including preeclampsia and eclampsia, obstructed labor caused by cephalopelvic disproportion, complications of unsafe abortion, and iron-deficiency anemia. Young women face greater risks than older women of hypertension, cephalopelvic disproportion, iron-deficiency anemia, and unsafe abortion.
Untreated pregnancy-induced hypertension can cause heart failure or stroke and result in the death of both the mother and infant. Hypertension occurs most often among women having their first child and accounts for a large proportion of maternal deaths in women under age.
In many regions iron-deficiency anemia is a factor in almost all maternal deaths. An anemic woman is five times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than a woman who is not anemic. Anemic women are less able to resist infection and less able to survive hemorrhage or other complications of labour and delivery. Anemia also contributes to premature delivery and low birth weight.
Iron-deficiency anemia is particularly common among pregnant women, and young pregnant women are more likely than older women to be anemic, even in developed countries. Normal menstrual bleeding, a diet lacking absorbable iron, and malaria cause most anemia in pregnant women. To avoid anemia during adolescence, young people need twice as much iron as adults of the same weight.
Adequate prenatal care can reduce pregnancy-related mortality and complications, especially among very young women.
Young mothers, especially those under age 15, have higher rates of premature labor, spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, and low birth weight infants. For the infant who survives, the higher risk of death persists throughout early childhood.
“If you cannot learn from others, you will simply never learn,” it is said. Therefore, take charge, take precaution, and stop teen-pregnancy. Take your time, it pays being patient.