Consanguinity and a sick mindset

When we think of our family members, especially our cousins, the words that probably come to our minds are “friend” or “brother” or “sister”. But unfortunately, in some Middle Eastern, African and Especially South Asian countries, cousins are actually regarded as potential partners to a vast majority of people. Whilst it may sound quite strange and disgusting to some of us, it is a popular trend among our society and has taken over a lot of families.

Consanguinity is a deeply rooted social trend among one-fifth of the world population. According to some studies, an estimate of one billion of the current global population live in societies which prefer consanguineous marriage. Consanguinity can be simply illustrated as “inter-family” marriages. It is clinically regarded as a term used to describe marriages between two individuals who are either second cousins or closer. This cultural practice has taken a toll on countless people and has ruined the lives of many innocent children.

Marriage between first cousins doubles the risk of children being born with birth defects. Studies have shown that the biggest factor regarding birth abnormalities in children is marriage between first cousins. The Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) has concluded that approximately half of ever married women aged 15-49 were married to their first cousins. The percentage of first cousin marriages is 53% in Balochistan, 54.4% in Punjab, 49.7% in Sindh and 38.8% in KPK. As per PDHS, child morbidity was higher in these cases. What’s perhaps even more sickening is that this practice is probably equally popular in urban as well as rural areas. The rising awareness against consanguinity might make the youth in urban areas think twice before marrying their cousins but it seems though the abolition of cousin marriage might take even longer in rural areas.

Also read: 'Cousin marriage' doubles gene risk for babies: Study

It is absolutely heart-breaking to know that there are so many innocent children out there who are deprived of basic human senses such as the ability to see, hear, speak etc. Other than this, heart problems, walking disabilities and viruses of genes are other common health threats related to consanguinity. Even if one carries a genetic disease or a virus, the chance of their children being born with that disease is very low if they marry outside their family. Inter-family marriages only increase the risk of genetic diseases. It is estimated that one of every four children could be born with that genetic disease if their parents are cousins and this too, could increase depending on the circumstances.

Even if we set aside the health factor for once, the thought of marrying your cousins is just disgusting! Mind you, these are the same people who you grow up with, play with and who you consider your siblings and the thought of marrying that same person would just terrify a person to their core. Despite this, marriage between cousins is far more popular than we can think of. There are several factors which act as catalysts to cousin marriages. A lot of parents consider it convenient to just marry off their children to cousins within their families. Some parents consider it even better to marry off their children within the “baradri”. The notorious caste system continues to destroy the lives of people. It is often thought that if a person marries outside their caste, they will get a bad reputation or in some cases, even excommunicated. Whereas some parents do not even try to look for potential partners for their children outside their families. Another crucial factor is to keep the family wealth. In order to keep their wealth to themselves, some people just marry their cousins. Human greed really has no end.   

Furthermore, the real question that we have to ask ourselves is that just how can we put an end to this heinous practice for good? Awareness is the one right answer. Pakistani families must be educated and must be made aware of the devastating effects that inter-family marriages can result in. Because often times, the chances of children born with disabilities could vary according to how much cousin breeding has occurred throughout the family. Counselling is also an important factor and I think that there should be a formal department made by the state to serve this purpose. People should also consult the medical experts before entering into cousin marriages and should conduct a prior DNA test if they have decided to actually marry within their families. This on-going phenomenon of consanguinity continues to spread like wildfire and one can only hope that our society gets rid of it for good.