24 October 2011
Dr Gill Greer, former Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), speaks to DFID about how reproductive health changes girls lives and drives development.
How UK aid is changing lives through reproductive health
In the developing world, one in three girls are married before they are 18 and teenage pregnancy is the number one killer worldwide of women aged 15 to 19 years old.
UK aid is helping the world's poorest people to change their lives by giving at least 10 million more women access to contraceptives, including 1 million young women.
And by 2014, we will be supporting 700,000 girls in secondary education. Adolescent girls who are in school are likely to marry later, less likely to have premarital sex and more likely to use contraception.
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Tackling child marriage and early pregnancy in Bangladesh
Zambian soap stars spread the word on family planning |
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Facts and stats
If a girl marries before she is 18:
- She will face a much higher risk of death and injury due to early sexual activity and early childbearing. If she is 15–19 she is twice as likely to die.
- She will usually drop out of school. Without an education, she is more likely to live in poverty.
- She is more vulnerable to HIV and domestic violence.
- Her children are also at risk. When a mother is under 18, her baby’s chance of dying in the first year of life is 60% greater than that of a baby born to a mother older than 19.