Early marriage is putting teenage girls at a greater risk of contracting HIV

Photo: Jenny Matthews

"I got the chance to come here because I was the best girl in my class back home. I don’t want to get married. I am too young, only 14 years old."

Aichatou – not her real name - is less likely to become infected with HIV than many girls her age in Niger. She goes to a boarding school Plan has opened for young girls. The school has not only given her a chance to study - but it has also helped her avoid marriage before adulthood. The common practice of early marriage is linked to many health issues, including HIV/AIDS. 

"I know a girl back home who got married, she is 15 years old. You can have problems when you give birth. And you cannot go to school," says Aichatou, who explains how she and her peers make use of theatre to raise awareness of the issues.

Why are married girls more at risk?

The majority of sexually active girls aged 15–19 in developing countries are married*. And they tend to have higher rates of HIV infection than their sexually active, unmarried peers:

• they are more likely to have unprotected sex (one reason being the expectation to have children)
• typical husbands are more likely to carry the virus than typical boyfriends of teenage girls
  (husbands are often older and more sexually experienced - results of the DHS survey* show that 30 percent of male partners of married adolescent girls were infected with HIV, while only 11.5 percent of the partners of unmarried girls were HIV-positive).

Increasingly, HIV is spreading more rapidly among those powerless to negotiate the terms of sexuality and, as a result, is becoming increasingly selective of young people, especially young women. HIV prevention strategies need to reflect this, and they should offer information and feasible choices to young women under pressure to become pregnant.

As part of a Pan African conference on HIV/AIDS, Plan will sponsor a discussion with young people sharing their views, on Adolescent Sexual Health: looking at the root causes of young people’s vulnerability to HIV and how adolescent–centered projects can play a lead role in combating HIV.