Early marriage and adolescent pregnancy in Mozambique.

Early marriage and adolescent pregnancies are prevailing phenomena in Mozambique, with 48% and 40% of girls aged 20-24 marrying and getting pregnant before the age of 18. Using a cross-sectional survey in Maganja da Costa and Morrumbala districts, Zambézia Province, and descriptive and inferential statistics for data analysis, the study revealed that around 65% of adolescent became pregnant at the age of 15-17. Among these adolescent, 18.8% had their first baby before turning 15 and 99.2% before their 18th birthday. Of the respondents, 23% experienced health complications after birth. A further 71.5% said they did not, and 5.5% were 'not applicable'. Referring to their education, 55.9% of adolescents finished primary education, 39.9% completed secondary education, and 2.9% achieved some higher education qualification. When asked if they were going to school while initially pregnant, 58.7% responded "yes", 39.7% responded "no," and 1.6% answered "not applicable" as they had never gone to school. After delivery, 31.6% returned to school, and 66.8% did not. This supports the assumption that early marriage and adolescent pregnancies are potential drivers for school dropout, low education and adverse pregnancy and birth health outcomes. Girls' education can act as a protective factor in delaying early marriage and adolescent pregnancy. School retention of girls should be monitored, therefore contributing towards gender parity in education.

A critical cartography of domestic violence policies in Mozambique.

BACKGROUND: Domestic violence (DV) affects millions of people worldwide, especially women impacting their health status and livelihoods. To prevent DV and to improve the quality of victims' lives, Mozambican governmental and non-governmental entities are making efforts to develop adequate policies and legislation and to improve the accessibility of services for victims of DV. However, a critical review of whether or not current policies and legislation concerning DV in Mozambique are in agreement with international guidelines has yet to be examined. Therefore, this paper aims to map the Mozambican legislative and policy responses to DV. It also strives to analyse their alignment with international treaties and conventions and with each other. METHODS: Through a critical cartography, documents were selected and their content analysed. Some of these documents were not available online, printed versions were not available on the field and some were not up to date. Therefore, we had to search for them via physical office visits at governmental institutions with a responsibility to deal with DV aspects. These documents were listed and analysed for key content applying a framework inquiring on recommendations of international agencies such as World Health Organization. Subsequently, we compared these policies with international conventions and treaties of which Mozambique is signatory and with each other to identify discrepancies. RESULTS: Overall, six institutions were visited assuring identification of all available information and policy documents on DV. We identified a total of fifteen national DV documents of which five were on laws, one on policy and nine institutional strategic/action plans. Most of the national DV documents focused on strategies for assistance/care of victims and prevention of DV. Little focus was found on advocacy, monitoring and evaluation. CONCLUSIONS: Mozambique has demonstrated its commitment by signing several international and regional treaties and conventions on DV. Despite this, the lack of consistency in the alignment of international treaties and conventions with national policies and laws is remarkable. However, a gap in the reliable translation of national policies and laws into strategic plans is to be found particularly in relation to naming type, beneficiaries, main strategies and multi-sectorial approach.

Perfil sócio-económico e Mecanismos de defesa e denúncia usados pelas Mulheres vítimas de Violência física que procuraram os Serviços da polícia na cidade de Maputo / Socio-Economic Profile and Defense and Complaint Mechanisms Used by Women Victims of Physical Violence who sought the Police Services in Maputo City

"Perfil sócio-económico e Mecanismos de defesa e denúncia usados pelas mulheres vítimas de Violência física que procuraram os serviços da polícia na cidade de Maputo", foi o tema do trabalho de pesquisa, realizado ao nível da cidade de Maputo, que tinha como população de estudo mulheres vítimas de violência física que foram atendidas nas Esquadras da polícia em 2008, das quais foram entrevistadas cinco das cinquenta seleccionadas. Na problematização levantamos duas questões a saber: a) Qual o perfil sócio-económico e as motivações das mulheres vítimas de violência física (no contexto doméstico) que procuram os serviços da polícia e; b) Que mecanismos de defesa e denuncia são usados pelas mulheres vítimas de violência física (no contexto doméstico) para conter a atitude violenta dos seus agressores. Quanto ao tipo de estudo, tratou-se de um estudo descritivo transversal com recurso a métodos qualitativos na análise e interpretação de dados…