![Fighting child marriage in Zambia](/sites/default/files/styles/medium_portrait/public/2020-01/Child%20Marriage%20Website%20Pic%202.png?itok=csAyxzYg)
Together for a Zambia without child marriage
3 out of 10 girls are married off by the time they reach 18. Child marriage is a tragedy for the young people it affects, often the most vulnerable, poorest and marginalized girls.
Female child marriage in Zambia remains one of the highest in Africa, despite a decline from 41.6% in 2007 to 31.4% in 2014 among young women aged 20-24 who reported being married before the age of 18.
Geographic distribution of child marriages and teenage pregnancy shows a rural skew with quantitative data indicating a consistent pattern of child marriage and/or pregnancy generally around or above 50% in many rural areas.
Domestic violence is higher among girls who marry before the age of 18 than those who marry later in life, a trend that exposes them to other complications such as HIV infection. The HIV prevalence rates is higher among girls in rural areas than their urban counterparts.
It Takes a World to End Violence Against Children
In 2015, World Vision International (WVI) launched a global campaign dubbed “It takes a world to end violence against children.” aimed at ending violence against children
This campaign is woven within the framework of WVI’s Christian identity that states that violence against girls and boys is a violation of the life God desires for every child
In 2017, World Vision in Zambia contextualized the campaign by adopting the theme “ending child marriage” in line with the Government of the Republic of Zambia’s recognition of its negative effect on both the individuals and their communities, if left unchecked.