Peer-reviewed article
Effectiveness of interventions to reduce child marriage and teen pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review of quantitative evidence
Garumma Tolu Feyissa, Lemi Belay Tolu, Matiwos Soboka, Alex Ezeh ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This systematic review examined interventions to reduce child marriage and teen pregnancy in sub-Saharan Africa, where 40% of women in Western and Central Africa marry before age 18. The authors analysed 30 studies and found that educational scholarships and community dialogue programmes showed consistent effectiveness across different settings. The review concludes that successful interventions must address both financial barriers and community norms that enable child marriage and early pregnancy.
Key points
- 40% of women in Western and Central Africa are married before age 18
- Educational scholarship provision was consistently effective across studies
- Systematically implemented community dialogue was consistently effective
- Other interventions including life skills, health assets, and wealth building showed inconsistent results
- Most interventions need to address environmental factors including financial barriers and community norms
Limitations
As a systematic review, this document summarises existing studies but does not itself test an intervention. The effectiveness findings are based on the quality and rigour of the included studies, which the review notes is often limited, with calls for more rigorous effectiveness and cost-effectiveness research.
Abstract
Introduction: Child marriage and teen pregnancy have negative health, social and development consequences. Highest rates of child marriage occur in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and 40% of women in Western and Central Africa got married before the age of 18. This systematic review was aimed to fill a gap in evidence of effectiveness to reduce teen pregnancy and child marriage in SSA. Methods: We considered studies conducted in sub-Saharan Africa that reported on the effect of interventions on child marriage and teen pregnancy among adolescent girls for inclusion. We searched major databses and grey literature sources. Results: We included 30 articles in this review. We categorized the interventions reported in the review into five general categories: (a) Interventions aimed to build educational assets, (b) Interventions aimed to build life skills and health assets, (c) Wealth building interventions, and (d) Community dialogue. Only few interventions were consistently effective across the studies included in the review. The provision of scholarship and systematically implemented community dialogues are consistently effective across settings. Conclusion: Program designers aiming to empower adolescent girls should address environmental factors, including financial barriers and community norms. Future researchers should consider designing rigorous effectiveness and cost effectiveness studies to ensure sustainability. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier: CRD42022327397.