Around 43 per cent girls aged 20 to 24 years in India have married before attaining the age of 18 years, whereas the figure was 38 per cent for Ganjam district in Odisha, as per the Annual Health Survey-2012.
Though there has been a decline in child marriage cases in nearly all States, but the pace of change remains slow, opined speakers at a State-level joint advocacy workshop on Prevention of Child Marriage, organized by the Voluntary Heath Association of India (VHAI) in association with the Restless Development here.
The workshop emphasized on sharing of best practices, success stories, recommendations and modalities and action on child marriage under concerned Departments along with cross-learning among the participated point persons from the Health and W&CD Department and other stakeholders.
Family Welfare Director from the Health and Family Welfare Department Dr Nirmala Kumari Dei and senior Prgramme Officer of the UNDP-NIPI (NHM, Odisha) Dr Prasant Kumar Saboth emphasized on promotion of education of girls and active involvement of community group, institutions, youths, adolescents and teachers to curb the issue.
OVHA Executive Director Dr Dillip Samal, VHAI State Programme Coordinatior Dr Bishwaranjan Purohit and Restless Development Programme Coordinator Smrutisathi Sahoo spoke.
