Experts call for discouraging under-age marriage

Child marriages have been endangering the mother’s life during pregnancy, childbirth

QUETTA: Health experts on Monday expressed concern over increasing maternal mortality rate (MMR) in Balochistan and called upon efforts to discourage underage marriage so that the problem might be overcome.

The concern was aired by AHSAS PK Executive Director Watan Yar Khliji and Youth Association for Development Executive Director Allauddin Khilji during a press conference at Quetta Press Club.

They said still there is a high occurrence of underage marriages in the province despite the fact that 18-year is the minimum age for girls to marry as per the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2019. This prevalence, they said, have been endangering the mother’s life during pregnancy and childbirth.

“Blatant violation of the Child Marriages Restraint Act 1929 in rural parts of Balochistan has been resulting in high rate of the MMR,” they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2019.