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What does the world know about rescued Chibok schoolgirl Amina Ali?
Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki, a Nigerian schoolgirl rescued after over two years of captivity with Boko Haram militants, looks on while visiting President Muhammadu Buhari in Abuja, Nigeria, May 19, 2016. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde
20/05/2016
ABUJA, Nigeria (Reuters) - The rescue of one of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls abducted by the Islamist group Boko Haram from a secondary school in Chibok in northeastern Nigeria two years has thrown global attention onto Amina Ali.
But what is known about the girl who was found two days ago near Damboa in Nigeria's northeast with a four-month-old daughter and a suspected Boko Haram fighter claiming to be her husband?
President Muhammadu Buhari vowed at a news conference on Thursday that Ali would continue her education and condemned the brutality of forced marriage.
Here are some facts about Ali, the first of the missing girls to be found, and about the health, education and rights of girls in Nigeria:
* Amina Ali was one of 13 children in her family (source: The Murtala Muhammed Foundation)
* Women on average give birth to six children (source: World Bank)
* 117 children from every 1,000 live births die under the age of five (source: UNICEF)
* Ali is one of 219 schoolgirls missing since April 2014 when they were kidnapped from a secondary school at Chibok by Boko Haram militants
* About 2,000 girls and boys have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since the beginning of 2014, according to Amnesty International, which says they are used as cooks, sex slaves, fighters and even suicide bombers.
* The female secondary school net attendance rate is only 29 percent in Borno state in northeast Nigeria compared to a national average of 53 percent (source: www.epdc.org)
* She was found with a four-month-old daughter
* About 43 percent of women aged 20 to 24 years are first married or in union by age 18 (source: UNICEF)
* Nigeria has one of the world's highest maternal mortality rates with women dying in 814 of every 100,000 live birth (source: World Bank)
* Around 40,000 pregnant women died in Nigeria in 2013, according to the World Health Organisation
* A survey of 15-24 year-old women found the majority think it is reasonable for husbands to beat their wives if they burn food, refuse sex or go out without his permission (www.gov.uk)
* Life expectancy for a woman at birth in Nigeria is 53 (source: World Bank)
(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Ros Russell)
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