Dating violence is extremely prevalent among this population, and adolescent girls who report a history of experiencing dating violence are more likely to exhibit other serious health risk behaviors.

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Objectives-Child marriage in India is considered a major barrier to the nation's social and economic development, as well as a major women's health concern. The current study assesses prevalence of child marriage (i.e., marriage prior to the national legal age of 18 years) among young adult women in India, and associations between child marriage and women's fertility and fertility control behaviors. Participants-Analyses were restricted to women age 20-24 years (n=22,807) and the subsample of ever married women aged 20-24 years (n=14,628).Data Analysis-Prevalence estimates of child marriage were produced for all women 20-24 years. Using the ever married subsample, simple regression models, models adjusted for demographics, and models adjusted for demographics and duration of marriage were constructed to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the associations between child marriage and both fertility and fertility control outcomes.Authors' Contributions: Anita Raj, PhD, led conceptualization, conducted all analyses, and led manuscript development for this paper. Niranjan Saggurti, PhD, assisted with conceptualization, provided input into analytic approach, and assisted with manuscript development for this paper. Balaiah Donta, PhD, assisted with manuscript development and interpretation of study findings and implications for future directions in research and practice. Jay Silverman, PhD, assisted with conceptualization analytic approach, manuscript development, and interpretation of study findings. All authors participated as described above and both saw and approved this final submitted manuscript.Writing: There was no medical writer involved in this manuscript. Conflict of Interest Statement:All authors verify that they have no conflicts of interest regarding this work. There are no financial or personal relationships with other people or organisations that could inappropriately influence (bias) this work.Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Further, marriage at a very young age has grave health consequences for both child brides and their children. Women married as minors are more likely than those married as adults to report early, frequent and unplanned pregnancies (typically as a consequence of non-contraceptive use), which have been consistently linked to increased risk for maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. 1,2,6 Adolescent mothers are also more likely those of majority age to experience fistula, pregnancy complications, and death in childbirth. 2,5,6 Current United Nations (UN) prioritization of maternal ...

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Building upon the successes of Countdown to 2015, Countdown to 2030 aims to support the monitoring and measurement of women's, children's, and adolescents' health in the 81 countries that account for 95% of maternal and 90% of all child deaths worldwide. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the rate of decline in prevalence of maternal and child mortality, stillbirths, and stunting among children younger than 5 years of age needs to accelerate considerably compared with progress since 2000. Such accelerations are only possible with a rapid scale-up of effective interventions to all population groups within countries (particularly in countries with the highest mortality and in those affected by conflict), supported by improvements in underlying socioeconomic conditions, including women's empowerment. Three main conclusions emerge from our analysis of intervention coverage, equity, and drivers of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health (RMNCH) in the 81 Countdown countries. First, even though strong progress was made in the coverage of many essential RMNCH interventions during the past decade, many countries are still a long way from universal coverage for most essential interventions. Furthermore, a growing body of evidence suggests that available services in many countries are of poor quality, limiting the potential effect on RMNCH outcomes. Second, within-country inequalities in intervention coverage are reducing in most countries (and are now almost non-existent in a few countries), but the pace is too slow. Third, health-sector (eg, weak country health systems) and non-health-sector drivers (eg, conflict settings) are major impediments to delivering high-quality services to all populations. Although more data for RMNCH interventions are available now, major data gaps still preclude the use of evidence to drive decision making and accountability. Countdown to 2030 is investing in improvements in measurement in several areas, such as quality of care and effective coverage, nutrition programmes, adolescent health, early childhood development, and evidence for conflict settings, and is prioritising its regional networks to enhance local analytic capacity and evidence for RMNCH.