Global network challenges child marriage to protect children’s mental health

A global network coordinated by Dr Rochelle Burgess and Dr Delan Devakumar at the UCL Institute for Global Health is shining a light on child marriage and how it affects young people’s mental health.

Synopsis

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UCL’s cross-disciplinary Institute for Global Health (IGH) is home to the Global Network on Mental Health and Child Marriage, which works with partners across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas to reduce the burden of forced and child marriage on mental health by improving policy, research and advocacy.

 

The network is spearheading two studies in this area. The first, will identify priorities for addressing the mental health needs of people married young, including boys, working with experts, including women who have had first-hand experience of the practice.

 

In a second project, Dr Burgess is working with the Rozaria Memorial Trust and Women's University in Africa to map the impacts of child marriage within family and community networks in Zimbabwe, where 1 in 3 are married before the age of 18. They will develop community-led solutions to child marriage and its mental health consequences.

 

In another strand of the network’s research, Dr Delan Devakumar (UCL Institute for Global Health) collaborated with local partners in Nepal to produce and implement a public engagement project to help tackle the issue. Working with a local filmmaker, the team produced a documentary telling the stories of couples who were married young and how child marriage affected their lives physically and psychologically.

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