Shocking child bride realities in Africa.

Child marriage — when an individual is married before the age of 18 — impacts 15 million girls each year, or 41,000 girls every day in lower-income countries.

In other words, 1 in 3 girls in lower-income countries will be married before the age of 18; 1 in 9 will be married before the age of 15.

UNICEF projects that without accelerated progress, the number of child brides on the African continent will double by 2050.

Child marriage affects every aspect of a girl’s life. Girls who marry early are denied their childhood. Once married, these girls have little or no access to education and economic opportunities, and they and their families are more likely to live in poverty. Child brides also face a higher risk of experiencing dangerous, life-threatening complications in pregnancy, contracting HIV, and suffering domestic and sexual violence.

Child marriage is a harmful practice that deprives girls of their right to choose if, when, and whom to marry and what type of family to create. It also deprives girls of their rights to education, to health, and to live in security.

This is sickening and disgusting practice that requires quantum leaps in will and resources to crush for good.