LIWALE, Jan. 31 -- “I WANT to continue giving birth to more children even though I have a grandchild at the moment. Having a health centre very close to my home gives me the courage to continue giving a safe birth,” says Vumili Mohammed, aged 36, after her 20-year-old daughter, Sharuu Iddi, recently gave birth to a baby boy.

Vumili, a mother of three, lives at Kuchochorokana village, Likongowele Ward, Liwale District, Lindi Region, and she sees the major improvement in the provision of reproductive health services as relief to young mothers in the Southern regions of Tanzania.

In its tour of the Lindi region, the Daily News found that teen marriages in the Southern regions of Tanzania is a very customary practice to the exte...