While women and girls make up 51 per cent of the population of Namibia, their desires are not always prioritised says UNFPA Country Representative, Gift Malunga. According to Malunga, 32 per cent of Namibian women between the ages of 15 and 49 have experienced physical violence from an intimate partner at some point in their lives, and 6 per cent have experienced violence during pregnancy. Meanwhile 18.4 per cent of children in the country have undergone child marriage and the adolescent pregnancy rate remains high at 19 per cent. This, she says, underscores the urgent need for collective action to address the structural inequalities that hold women back.
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