The Osh Data Journalism Fellows’ story on early marriages and early childbirth published on Yntymak and T-Media gained 661 views between both websites and 33 likes and 149 shares on the outlets’ Facebook accounts. The article addressed the issue that early marriages lead to early childbirth, which involves a higher risk of infant and maternal mortality, which is an especially big problem in the south.

To take the discussion to the next level, Media-K in collaboration with Data School of Kyrgyzstan and T-Media conducted its second “DATAsreda” (“sreda” means both “Wednesday” and “environment” in Russian) on Wednesday, June 19. This was the first such event that was held in Osh. The event gathered 35 people, including representatives from religious communities, relevant NGOs and international organizations such as UN Women, and also universities and media outlets.

The DATAsreda participants concluded that the problem lies in the degradation of the family institution, and that all stakeholders must work together to resolve it. The discussion appeared to be popular and in-demand; Media-K will continue the practice of organizing discussions about fellows’ data stories.