Status of consanguineous marriage in ethnic minority and recommended solutions to reduce consanguineous marriage in ethnic minority in Dienbien province

Abstract

    This study was conducted to evaluate consanguineous marriage status of the ethnic minority in Dien Bien province and to propose possible solutions to reduce this situation in ethnic communities in this province. Data were collected by 762 questionnaires of ethnic minority households in 18 communes, in 6 districts through Dien Bien province. Results showed that the percentage of ethnic minority people in Dien Bien province involving in consanguineous marriage was 2.2% and ranged differently among ethnic groups. The ethnic minority people's knowledge of consanguineous marriage was quite poor when 56.4% of people did not know well and 8.1% of the people did not know anything about consanguineous marriage at all. The percentage of people considering consanguineous marriage as a normal situation accounted for 11.9% and that of people supporting for it was 1.2%. Local authorities did not work well to prohibit people from consanguineous marriage. There were 58.8% of consanguineous marriage cases with no punishments while only 35.3% of cases were sanctioned. Based on the status of consanguineous marriage in ethnic minority in Dien Bien province, it is suggested that the proposed solutions to reduce this situation include: (1) Solutions to improve people's understanding and attitude in consanguineous marriage, and (2) Solutions to improve management work of local authorities on consanguineous marriage.