Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34154598›Full record

ArticleReproductive health2021

The missing link between legal age of sexual consent and age of marriage in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Bright Opoku Ahinkorah, Joshua Okyere, John Elvis Hagan, Abdul-Aziz Seidu, Richard Gyan Aboagye, Sanni Yaya

Erratum issuedOpen access · goldAbstract readEditorial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Reproductive health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.6field-weighted citation impact, top 10% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.

Bright Opoku AhinkorahSchool of Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia.
Joshua OkyereDepartment of Population and Health, College of Humanities and Legal Studies, University of Cape Coast, Cape coast, Ghana.
John Elvis HaganDepartment of Health Promotion, Education and Disability Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
Abdul-Aziz SeiduDepartment of Population and Health, College of Humanities and Legal Studies, University of Cape Coast, Cape coast, Ghana.
Richard Gyan AboagyeSchool of Public Health, University of Health and Allied Sciences, Ho, Ghana.
Sanni YayaSchool of International Development and Global Studies, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. sanni.yaya@uOttawa.ca.
University of Cape Coast · GHBielefeld University · DEGlobal Affairs Canada · CAUniversity of Health and Allied Sciences · GHUniversity of Technology Sydney · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Child marriage is a fundamental violation of human rights and a threat to access to education, sexual and reproductive health care, and employment. It also threatens freedom from violence, reproductive rights, movement, and the right to consensual marriage. In most countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the legal age of marriage is 18 years. Hence, girls who marry before 18 years are considered as victims of child marriage. Closely knitted to legal age for marriage is the issue of age for sexual consent, which refers to the minimum age at which a person is considered to have the legal capacity to consent to sexual intercourse. While there seem to be a standard legal age for marriage, the legal age for sexual consent varies in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa and is often lower than the legal age of marriage. In this commentary, we argue that the gap between the legal age of sexual consent and marriage partly accounts for some of the sexual and reproductive health challenges such as intimate partner violence, sexually transmitted infections, adolescent pregnancy, early childbirth, including unsafe abortions among adolescent girls in sub-Saharan Africa and infringements on their sexual and reproductive health rights. This commentary highlights strategic potential interventions that could help address the identified gaps. We argue that aligning the age for sexual consent and marriage is not the solution to the problem. However, what is critical is the education of young people about sexual and reproductive health issues and comprehensive sexuality education through advocacy networks at the national and local levels. Thus, the key is to provide accurate, timely, and non-judgmental sexual and reproductive health and rights information to young people irrespective of the prevailing age of consent. This provision will empower them to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health.

Indexed as

Human RightsMarriageReproductive HealthAdolescentAfrica South of the SaharaChildFemaleHealth Services AccessibilityHumansPregnancySexual BehaviorAdolescentsAge of marriageSexual consentSub-Saharan Africa

Identifiers

PMID34154598
PMCPMC8218404
OpenAlexW3177365009

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.