Lowe Mat, Bojang Mariama, Gaye Alhagie, Njie Isatou, Dubois Awa
Society for the Study of Women'S Health (SSWH), Kanifing, The Gambia.
Reprod Health. 2025 May 31;22(Suppl 1):75. doi: 10.1186/s12978-025-01992-5.
Preventing Early Marriage in Rural Gambia: Testing an Intervention was a 5-year project that aimed to address early marriage among girls in 53 rural communities in The Gambia. At baseline, the aim of the project was to identify the social and cultural factors that contribute to early marriage for girls aged 10-19. The baseline findings revealed that factors such as ethnicity and parents' concerns about their daughters engaging in premarital sex were significant contributors to early marriage for girls. Additionally, the lack of viable alternatives to marriage was also identified as a key factor. This information was utilized by the project team to design and implement the project intervention that included community engagement forums and discussion sessions and capacity building for key community stakeholders.
This study compared the project's baseline and endline data to assess the impact of the project intervention on girls' age at first marriage and changes in parents' knowledge of and attitudes toward early marriage and its prevention. It utilized a non-experimental evaluation design.
The study results showed a significant increase in the average age of girls at first marriage, from 15.9 at baseline to 23.9 years at endline (P < 0.0001). Additionally, parents who actively participated in the community engagement forums and discussions have significantly improved their understanding of the harmful effects of early marriage on girls. This new knowledge has empowered these parents to re-evaluate the necessity of early marriage for girls.
A key lesson we learned from developing this project intervention is that locally-based interventions, carefully designed and implemented with meaningful participation from key community stakeholders, have the potential to address the underlying causes of early marriage for girls in rural communities in The Gambia.
《冈比亚农村地区预防早婚：测试一项干预措施》是一个为期5年的项目，旨在解决冈比亚53个农村社区中女孩的早婚问题。在基线调查阶段，该项目的目标是确定导致10至19岁女孩早婚的社会和文化因素。基线调查结果显示，种族以及父母对女儿婚前性行为的担忧等因素是女孩早婚的重要促成因素。此外，缺乏可行的婚姻替代选择也被确定为一个关键因素。项目团队利用这些信息设计并实施了项目干预措施，其中包括社区参与论坛和讨论会以及为关键社区利益相关者开展能力建设。
本研究比较了项目的基线数据和终期数据，以评估项目干预措施对女孩初婚年龄的影响，以及父母对早婚及其预防的认识和态度的变化。它采用了非实验性评估设计。
研究结果显示，女孩初婚的平均年龄显著增加，从基线时的15.9岁增至终期时的23.9岁（P < 0.0001）。此外，积极参与社区参与论坛和讨论的父母对早婚对女孩的有害影响有了显著提高的认识。这些新知识使这些父母能够重新评估女孩早婚的必要性。
我们从制定该项目干预措施中学到的一个关键经验是，精心设计并在关键社区利益相关者的有意义参与下实施的基于当地的干预措施，有可能解决冈比亚农村社区女孩早婚的根本原因。
