An assessment of health risks of early age at marriage and early pregnancy among the young in Rajasthan.

The paper is based on an exploratory study of the perceptions of married and unmarried adolescents regarding the issues of early age at marriage and its implications for the teenage pregnancy and maternal mortality among the adolescents in Rajasthan. These two issues have serious consequences for adolescent girls which result in deprivation of educational opportunities and associated risks of early pregnancy. Several efforts at the policy and programme levels have recognised that implications of early marriage as a social phenomenon has had health consequences for the young girls and the children they bear. Teenage pregnancies not only entail adverse health consequences but are also detrimental to the productive years of adolescents. The paper presents a study of two districts of Jhunjhunu and Sawai Madhoupur which are not only demographically different from each other but are ranked differently on the HDI index. The district of Sawai Madhopur is ranked at the bottom and Jhunjhunu at the top showing a significant difference in the way the twin issues of early age at marriage and early pregnancy are perceived in these two districts. (excerpt)