DAR ES SALAAM, 19 Sep 2006 (IRIN/PLUSNEWS) - Data collected by
the Tanzania Media Women Association (TAMWA) shows a strong correlation between
HIV/AIDS, early school exit, teenage marriage and pregnancy.
Tanzanian
law allows girls aged as young as 15 to get married with parental consent, and
between 20 percent and 40 percent do so before reaching adulthood, according to
the United Nations Population Fund, which addresses reproductive health and
population issues.
The TANWA report, based on pregnant adolescent girls
attending hospitals in the densely populated southeastern Coast and central
Morogoro provinces, commented that their husbands "characteristically have had
multiple partners, which puts the girls at the risk of being infected with
HIV/AIDS". Immature and financially dependent, the adolescent brides are
unlikely to be able to negotiate safer sex.
"The girls are too young and
ignorant about the importance of knowing their HIV/AIDS status, and lack the
courage to convince their partners to know their sero-status," said Upendo
Mwinchande, director of the AIDS Business Coalition of Tanzania
(ABCT).
Although 76.6 percent of the TANWA study sample were aware of the
risks posed by HIV, most of the expectant girls were married and refused to go
for HIV tests, even after counselling. Over six percent of those tested were
found to be HIV-positive - just one percent below the national prevalence
rate.
"The education system is not protective of young girls. They walk
long distances to and from school, which exposes them to the risks of rape or
abduction into marriage. The laws do not criminalise anti-girl practices, such
as early marriages," said Mwinchande.
She said the coastal and Morogoro
regions still had high levels of girl illiteracy. "Girls are still traditionally
discriminated against in coastal regions, and some as young as 11 years are
withdrawn from school to be married off. In health terms it is dangerous,
because the tissues of the sexual organs are delicate and therefore prone to
rupture during sexual intercourse, creating entry points for HIV."
Girls
who dropped out of primary school were increasingly being forced into early
marriage or early sexual debut to support themselves financially.
"The
infected are poorly informed; the poor are motivated by the sheer pride of
having a husband and the parents' unremitting desire for bride-wealth," said the
TANWA report. Young girls had virtually no control over their sex lives, as
"they are no more than toys in matrimonial matters".
The findings are a
challenge to the government, which announced a new education policy in August
emphasising the education of girls. Starting in 2007, the government plans to
build more district boarding schools to counteract the low numbers of girls
making the transition from primary to secondary school.
Mwinchande said
the policy was long overdue and, if implemented, could help tackle HIV infection
among highly vulnerable adolescents.
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