International Bodies to Address Fertility in Nigeria

Rebecca Ejifoma

The International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) in collaboration with the Association for Fertility and Reproductive Health (AFRH) is set to hold the first ever fertility management workshop in the continent to improve professionalism in the field of fertility management in Nigeria.

The workshop, slated from May 17 to 19 at Radisson Blue, Victoria Island, Lagos, will serve as an avenue for practitioners in the field and those who are interested in Assisted Reproductive Technique (ART) to improve their knowledge and capacity.

The President of AFRH, Dr. Faye Iketubosin, said the demand for infertility treatment had always been there but that technology around ART has always made the cost to be on the high side.

He said the numbers of ART clinics in the country have increased to about 70 over the years from a low count of about 25. “This means that more doctors are picking interest but most of the professionals in the field obtain training abroad at a very high cost.”

According to him, the food chain obtainable in recent times which are exposed to diversefertilisers and other products have caused low sperm count in men globally.

He added: “It is, therefore, necessary to boost resources in the fertility management area so that ART techniques like in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and intrauterine insemination (IUI) among others can give chances to affected couples to have children of their own.

“World Health Organisation (WHO) has revised what constituted a normal sperm count from 20 million sperm per male to 15 million now.”

Iketubosin cited a 50/50 chance of infertility between men and women with the most common cause among women to be tuber blockage, which he said was mostly caused by infections.