Child Brides & Female Genital Damage

By Christopher Rezel –March 28, 2017

Christopher Rezel

Child Marriage in various part of the world often result in obstetric fistula, a childbirth complication due to obstructed labour when tissues between a woman’s vagina and bladder or rectum are damaged from continuous pressure from the baby’s head stuck in the birth canal.

This results in a hole through which the woman continuously leaks urine or faeces, sometimes both.

Obstetric fistula is not the only problem a young girl having sex, getting pregnant, and going through childbirth when her body is not developed enough may encounter.

There have been records of child brides bleeding to death because of enforced penetrative sex.

Obstetric fistula is a condition that affects hundreds of thousands of women, the larger percentage in Africa.

Asian countries, including Sri Lanka, are not invulnerable to the condition.

In many instances in Asia and Africa, such child brides are far from medical facilities and may never receive the attention of medical professional.

However if patch-up medical attention is received, the single instance of marriage will be their last.

The husband though will go on to marry again, sometimes multiple times.

I wonder how many readers recall the local print-media discussion in years past of child brides and practises related to female genitalia.

As usually happens, the discussion was somewhat sensational and lacked the required seriousness.

Instead a certain Colombo hospital was smeared.

With obstetric fistula, the woman soon gets used to the constant drip of bodily wastes down her legs and the smells she emits. Her husband sends her home to her parents. In some cases, her smell is so unbearable, even her parents put her out, consigning her to a hut far from the house, sometimes having access to others only when food is passed to her.

The tragedy begins when a child bride goes into labour. Try as she might, the baby won’t budge.

Her suffering may continue for hours and days.

Finally her baby dies inside.

It will be extracted, sometimes piece by piece.

Obstetric fistula is a condition that affects hundreds of thousands of women, the larger percentage in Africa.

To meet demand, there are hospitals in some African countries dedicated to the problem and to repairing genital injury, particularly of child brides.

The Danja Fistula Center in Niger and the Addis Ababa’s Fistula Hospital are just two, if names are required.

In Sri Lanka where matters of sex, whether underage or otherwise, is rarely discussed, the business of repairing damage to female genitalia is treated in great secrecy.

However it is fortunate that certain Sri Lanka hospitals and doctors have been known to specialize in such matters.

In an effort to start a global conversation about the devastating effects of early marriages, which is currently practiced in more than 50 developing countries, the United Nations has designated October 11 as International Day of the Girl Child.

Although child marriage is against the law in many countries, and international treaties forbid the practice, it is estimates that about 51 million underage girls are currently given away in marriage, often under cover of religious or cultural considerations.

In Afghanistan alone, it is believed that over 50 per cent of girls wed before the legal age of 16. Many are children.

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