Abstract

Adolescent pregnancy and childbirth are severe medical and public health problems for developed and developing countries. Although legislative, institutional, and policy measures have been implemented, girls still face early pregnancies and childbearing in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study aimed to examine the trends and factors associated with early pregnancies and motherhood among young women in three sub-Saharan African countries, specifically Malawi, Mali, and Niger. Descriptive and multivariate analyses indicated a significant decline in the prevalence of early childbearing in all three countries between 2006 and 2016, along with variability in determinants of age at first childbearing across countries. However, the study found that respondents who married in their early and middle adolescence are 20.53, 10.27, and 6.19 times (in Malawi, Niger, and Mali, respectively) more at risk of early childbearing than those who married in their emerging adulthood. There is an urgent need to introduce programs that promote delaying the age of first sexual debut and equip adolescent women with knowledge about responsible and safer sex and motherhood. In addition, government authorities (policymakers) have to promote prolonged enrolment in schools for teenage girls and enforce a law that criminalizes child marriages.