Roundtable on ‘Zero Tolerance to Child Pregnancy’

The White Ribbon Alliance, a childbirth and motherhood rights organization, along with the national news agency, The Daily Star, organized a roundtable discussion titled ‘Zero Tolerance to Child Pregnancy’ at the capital’s The Daily Star Center on Sept 8.

Speakers at the event opined that both government and non-government organizations need to emphasize heavily on preventing child marriage, and working together to purge the country of ‘teenage pregnancy’, marking it as a “slow killing process.”

White Ribbon’s National Coordinator Dr Farhana Ahmad addressed the complications that derive from teenage pregnancy which is among the top causes of death of girls ages 15-19. There is also the risk of post pregnancy-related complexities such as obstetric fistula in girls under 18, she added.

Other prominent doctors and associates were also present at the discussion, sharing their views to eradicate the issue of teenage childbirth. Dr Malay Kanti Mridha, research associate of Public Health Sciences Division at ICDDR,B said that only two percent of national budget is allocated for the health sector, and has demanded more budget allocation.

Source: Teenage pregnancy slowly kills mother, children, by The Daily Star
Summary of discussions: Zero Tolerance to Child Pregnancy, by The Daily Star