UNICEF, in a report released yesterday, says: "Despite the progress made so far, it will take even more than 100 years to put an end to the practice of girls' brides in West and Central Africa.
The UN agency intends to highlight the negative effects that early marriages have on the living conditions of young women, on demographics with decidedly paralyzing effects on the growth of the region.
According to UNICEF, even if it doubled the current rate of reduction of child marriages it would not be enough. "We need a shock," said Fatoumata Ndiaye, UNICEF's deputy executive director. “We cannot continue to let so many of our girls lose their health, education and childhood.
Always according to the report published by Unicef, if you consider the current numbers, will serve another 100 years to eliminate this phenomenon.
In Central and West Africa, four out of ten women marry before the age of 18, including one in three before the age of 15. In this area of the continent, there are 6 of the 10 countries with the highest rate of child marriages in the world, namely Niger, Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea. Fortunately, progress has been made in Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Togo, Ghana and Rwanda, where the practice has decreased by 40-60% over the past 25 years.
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