BAJURA, SEPTEMBER 16

Early marriage and birthgiving have badly affected women's health in Bajura.

Child marriage is rampant in the district. Pregnant women high risk to their health while giving birth.

Health workers said pregnant women below twenty years of age faced health complications and were at high risk of death during delivery.

Health workers said women giving birth to multiple children and premature child birth had created severe problems.

Amkala Rokaya, 23, of Budhinanda Municipality died just after she gave birth to a baby last year. Similarly, five women died after they could not give birth two years ago.

The reason behind the women's death can be attributed to early marriage and multiple child birth.

According to the census data of 2011, as many as 24,919 women got married before they reached 20 years of age. Of them, 4,000 women were married before they reached the age of 15.

Statistics Chief in the health office Rugam Thapa said as many as 592 women became pregnant before they reached 20 in 2017-18, 486 in 2018-19, 451 in 2019- 20, and 556 in 2020-21. He said the number of women who got married before 20 was even higher. He said, on average, a woman gave birth to two to three children before reaching 20 years of age.

Health Coordinator Dipak Sha said early marriage and pregnancy were not new in Bajura. As a result, many women have been facing the problem of malnutrition.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 17 2021, of The Himalayan Times.