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Child Marriages in West Africa

[caption id="attachment_5774" align="alignleft" width="300"] DFID - UK Department for International Development "A life free from violence" (CC BY 2.0)[/caption]

"Child marriages in West Africa are driven by factors ranging from building ties between families and communities, to easing poverty by having one less mouth to feed and taking a dowry.

Yet the root cause is not related to money or goods, as commonly thought, but marriages are agreed to avoid the family's shame of having an unmarried daughter who has sex or falls pregnant, according to recent research by Plan International."

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