The number of premature unions among children displaced by terrorism in Cabo Delgado province has doubled in the last six months in accommodation centers and resettlement neighborhoods in all districts, indicate new data released Tuesday, 17, by the humanitarian organization Save The Children.

To VOA, the organization avers that between January to March 2022, 108 children were pushed into premature unions due to a combination of factors, including the continued suffering experienced in transit centers and the challenges of starting life over from scratch in distant areas, compared to 65 cases recorded in the last quarter of 2021, from October to December.

In the first quarter of 2022, Save the Children continues, the number of newly married children increased steadily, from six in January, to 32 in February and 70 in March in the districts of Pemba, Metuge, Chiure and Montepuez.

The disturbing increase in premature unions is also the result of many parents being faced with the "devastating choice" of not being able to feed their family or house all their children and instead having to let them marry to ease the burden of caregiving.

Before the conflict broke out, Cabo Delgado province already had the second highest rate of premature unions and the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Mozambique.

Save the Children data indicates that 65% of adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 are already mothers or pregnant in the province.

According to the organization, the data released was collected by Save the Children's Child Protection program, which supports children who face serious risks of health and welfare problems, including early marriage, neglect, and mental health problems.

Speaking to VOA in Pemba, Inger Ashing, director of Save the Children International who was visiting Cabo Delgado this week, described the drama of premature unions of children in the midst of suffering as worrying.

"Cabo Delgado was already the worst place in Mozambique to be a child before this conflict started, now, with mass displacement and horrible abuse, things are much worse. Girls are particularly vulnerable and are being married off at an incredibly high rate," he said in a telephone statement.

In an interview with VOA, Júlia Wachave, an activist in Cabo Delgado, considers premature unions a "harsh reality" in Cabo Delgado, insisting that poverty and conflict continue to push many children into these unions, and part of them end up dying during pregnancy or childbirth.

"There is a lot of vulnerability, children are handed over to early unions in exchange for a piece of soap, food or a good, even plots of land, so families don't go to live in accommodation centers or remote areas without basic services," Julia Wachave says.

The conflict in Cabo Delgado has led to the displacement of 784,000 people, including 370,000 children, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and about four deaths, according to the ACLED conflict registration project.

The humanitarian organization Save The Children says that almost one in three people are now internally displaced and many have had to flee their homes several times due to the conflict, which is in its fifth year with no immediate end in sight.