Nearly 6,500 adolescent girls die in childbirth in South Asia every year: UN

Nearly 6500 adolescent girls die in childbirth in South Asia every year said UN agencies on Friday calling for prioritisation of the health of girls and adolescents in South AsiaExperts from the agencies discussed this at a twoday regional dialogue on adolescent pregnancy jointly organised by the SAARC UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia UNICEF ROSA United Nations Population Fund UNFPA and the World Health Organisation WHO in Kathmandu NepalAt the event officials and civil society representatives from India Afghanistan Bangladesh Bhutan Maldives Nepal Pakistan and Sri Lanka reaffirmed their commitment to prioritise health for over 22 million adolescent girls that give birth yearly in South Asia and to provide better opportunities to learn set up their businesses and earn a livingThe experts noted that most of these girls were child brides who have limited power over their reproductive health or livesThe South Asia region ldquohas a long way to go I call upon everyone to resolutely address the root causes including child marriage access to adolescent health education and removing social stigma in managing the teenage population of SAARC regionrdquo said Ambassador Golam Sarwar the Secretary General of SAARCSouth Asia accounts for 290 million child brides nearly half of the worldrsquos burden These girls are forced to drop out of school and face stigma rejection violence unemployment as well as lifelong social challengesAbout 49 per cent of young girls in South Asia are not in education employment or training ndash the highest in the world the experts notedWith poorer health coverage adolescent mothers are also at increased risk of early deaths and the babies born also face a significantly higher risk of deathldquoIt is high time that we reverse this trendrdquo said Saima Wazed Regional Director WHO SouthEast AsiaShe stressed adolescentsrsquo ldquounique physical cognitive social emotional and sexual developmentrdquo needs to be given ldquospecial attention in national and international policiesrdquoShe also called for ldquocrosssectoral collaboration and equitable access to a variety of servicesrdquo and an increase in ldquoinvestmentsrdquo to tackle adolescent pregnancy and promote their healthy socioeconomic developmentldquoThis supports the wellbeing of the youth of today who are the human capital of tomorrowrdquo the Regional Director saidAlso read Deaf women cricketers break silence over systemic challenges and social biasesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever