Akiya Akhter, married as a teen, was able to postpone having a baby until she was 20. Aproma Marma, after losing her first child to malnutrition when elders insisted that she eat and sleep less during pregnancy, now has a healthy two-year-old. Mahbuba Siddiqua changed
“It may seem that it is only the adolescent girls are the victims of child marriage,” CCP’s Faisal Mahmud says. “But in reality, child marriage brings worse consequences to the family and to the whole nation.”
With the help of counseling provided by CCP, one teen convinced her parents to halt an arranged marriage so she could finish her education and delay pregnancy until she is older.
CCP’s Ujjiban project provides counseling to pregnant Bangladeshi women and their family members on reproductive health and family planning.
In Bangladesh, where more than half the girls are married before their 18th birthday despite the custom of child marriage having been outlawed nearly a century ago, CCP is coordinating an effort designed to put an end to the practice.
“We’re using this cooking competition to encourage young people [in Bangladesh] to eat healthier foods and then to influence their families’ nutrition habits,” says CCP’s Patrick Coleman.
Ujjiban, CCP’s program in Bangladesh, is aiming to make conversations about sexual and reproductive health easier and less taboo for adolescents, giving them the information they need to make healthy decisions.
In the 10 months since the current Rohingya crisis began, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs has been one of the organizations working to help the Rohingya people stay healthy.
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