The government of Malawi recently announced an intention to raise the age of marriage from 15 to 21. Trying to limit child marriage may seem like non-news common sense to most Westerners. But in this case, the law itself is less important than the policy reasoning behind the law: to improve maternal health in the country.

Typically, once a girl has begun menstruating, she is considered eligible for marriage. And because becoming a wife and mother are considered among the best ways for women to gain clout in society, girls who have barely come through puberty are marrying and bearing children at dangerously young ages.

It is dangerous because these young women's bodies are not yet physically mature enough for childbirth. And in addition to concern over their small frames and gynecological immaturity, the lack of skilled birth attendants present during labor sets these women up for severe complications or even death of either the mother or child. In Malawi, teenage pregnancies make up a quarter of the country’s maternal deaths.

The term "maternal health" is a nebulous one, as is the idea of complications. Very few people in the West have a grasp on what precisely can go wrong during an unattended childbirth. One of these complications is, of course, the development of an obstetric fistula. In addition to better public health infrastructure, raising the age of marriage could have a tangible impact on maternal mortality and morbidity.

The Malawians we work with are well aware of the gap between what is declared in political debate and the reality of slow-to-evolve public behavior. Even if the age of marriage is legally raised, it is unlikely the law will be followed in practice in the rural and isolated areas of the country where it’s most prevalent.

Still, such public attention to maternal health by the country’s first female president, Joyce Banda, can only be seen as a good first step. If it prompts discussions and forces people to learn more about the medical consequences of early motherhood, attitudes may start to shift.