Child marriages skyrocket in Malawi as Covid-19 closes schools, figures show
Child marriage has almost doubled in parts of Malawi during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to figures from a national helpline.
Even before the pandemic, around half of all girls in Malawi got married before the age of 18. The situation has worsened dramatically as a result of the school closures and rise in poverty linked to the coronavirus outbreak, the charity Care International told The Telegraph.
From April to June this year, the national youth helpline recorded 669 child marriages, up by 83 per cent on last year, according to its director, MacBain Mkandawire. His organisation Yoneco runs the helpline on behalf of the government.
Calls about child rape also went up by 150 per cent under lockdown when compared with last year, the figures showed. Under Malawian law, sex with a minor is rape, so the numbers are linked to the marriage statistics.
Amos Zaindi, country director of Care International in Malawi, said: "Before Covid-19, Malawi had a high rate of child marriage. With schools closed and increased poverty, the situation is getting worse."
Reports of gender based violence and teen pregnancy have also spiked, according to Mr Mkandawire.
In fact, the incidence has increased so dramatically that the Malawian government is now undertaking an assessment of the situation after many different districts reported thousands of cases.
In one southern district alone, Phalombe, teenage pregancies in the first half of the year had tripled, figures provided to Care by Phalombe Youth Friendly Health Services showed. Last year to May, there were 913 teenage pregnancies; this year, almost 2,600. Police data in the district also showed a 400 per cent increase in reports of rape.
Experts around the world have voiced concerns that school closures combined with the economic downturn could see similarly huge spikes in teen pregnancy and child marriage. They have argued that the removal of the safe space of schools, which also provide a location for outreach programmes, coupled with the economic pressure on families in the wake of the pandemic and associated lockdowns, is a difficult combination in countries with already existing high rates of child marriage, such as Malawi and Niger.
Schools have been closed in Malawi since March 23. The situation in the country is also further complicated by the fact that the previous government allowed minors to register as adults in order to rig votes in the recent election, Care International said, making it harder to intervene in child marriages, as some of the children are - officially at least - adults.
Care is providing training to police, staff and women's organisations on handling gender-based violence and victim support, and providing personal protective equipment (PPE). It has also run radio messaging, SMS and loudspeaker announcements in a bid to help the country get control of the alarming numbers.
Mr Zaindi said the dramatic rise in child marriage must be addressed or risk long-term repercussions.
"As child marriage and pregnancy rise, girls will have an even harder time going back to school when it reopens, undoing precious gains in girls’ education Malawi had been making. We need to address these issues, as Malawi cannot afford to lose the gains achieved," he said.
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