The Nation Newspaper

Tag: UNFPA

  • UN partners Nigeria, seven others on reproductive health

    The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said it would support programmes in eight African countries over the next three years to boost access to reproductive health services for millions of adolescent girls.

    According to UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, the countries include Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Mozambique, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Tanzania.

    “We are working specifically to ensure that the continent’s adolescent girls, between the ages of 15 and 19, who lives in sub-Saharan Africa get a good education, are able to decide whether and when to marry and have children, are protected from HIV, and remain safe from violence.

    “It programme would ensure that they have their fair share of opportunities to work and contribute to the economic development of their countries,” the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Prof. Osotimehin as saying on the arrangement.

    He noted that the programmes would also aim to deliver a comprehensive set of sexual and reproductive health services for young people to reach disadvantaged and marginalised girls and young women, the ones at highest risk of poor sexual and reproductive health, violence and exploitation.

     

  • ‘More than 140m girls to become child brides in 2020’

    ‘More than 140m girls to become child brides in 2020’

    The United Nations on Friday said that by 2020 more than 140 million girls would have become child brides globally if the current marriage rates continue.

    It warned that little progress has been made towards ending the harmful practise.

    The Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, said of the 140 million girls, 50 million will be under the age of 15.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Osotimehin spoke at a special session on child marriage at the ongoing UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York.

    Some of the issues focused on during the session include supporting and enforcing legislation to increase the minimum age of marriage for girls to 18 years.

    Others are providing equal access to quality primary and secondary education for girls and boys; mobilising girls, boys, parents and leaders to change practises that discriminate against girls among others.

    He said that while 158 countries have set the legal age for marriage at 18 years, laws are rarely enforced since the practice of marrying young children was upheld by tradition and social norms.

    He stated that the practise was most common in rural sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

    The UNFPA Executive Director said that currently, 10 countries with the highest rates of child marriage are Niger, Chad, the Central African Republic, Bangladesh, Guinea, Mozambique, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Malawi.