This paper and an associated expert consultation were developed to better understand the relationship between child marriage and HIV and its implications for policies and programming.
Child marriage is a global problem that cuts across countries, cultures, and religions. Around 650 million women and girls alive today were married as children. Unless we accelerate our efforts, 150 million more girls will be married by 2030.
Every year 12 million girls are married before the age of 18. If progress is not accelerated, 150 million girls could be married in childhood by 2030.1 As a key driver of adolescent pregnancy, child marriage has a hugely detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of girls and young women, who are more susceptible to experiencing complications during pregnancy and childbirth. The children of child brides are also at higher risk of poor health outcomes than children of girls who marry later.
In recent years, there has been growing evidence and recognition of the importance of engaging men and boys to improve gender equality and empower women and girls. The evidence base on male engagement in ending child marriage, specifically, is relatively thin, with only a handful of studies assessing whether programmes shift the attitudes and behaviours of men and boys around child marriage. Those programmes that have been rigorously studied suggest that it is indeed possible to shift boys’ attitudes toward child marriage including the appropriate age of marriage for girls.
In June 2017, the World Bank and the International Center for Research on Women released groundbreaking results from a major three-year research study on the global costs of child marriage. The study found that child marriage is not only a human rights violation having a major impact on the wellbeing of girls, it also has major negative impacts for households and national economies.
Girls Not Brides are calling on G7 countries to prioritise and act on child marriage. These advocacy briefs call on leaders in G7 countries to recognise the need for global level action on child marriage, to develop concrete solutions that are applied at the local level, and to pledge funding to support the implementation of policies and programmes to empower girls.
