1 in 3 women are unable to have children, often ostracized, officials say
BARCELONA, Spain - Doctors are getting ready to introduce a cheap in-vitro fertilization procedure across Africa, where women often are ostracized as witches or social outcasts if they cannot have children, officials said Monday.
Millions of dollars go into family planning projects and condom distribution to prevent pregnancies in Africa, but experts said that more than 30 percent of women on the continent are unable to have children. An estimated 80 million people in developing countries are infertile worldwide.
"Infertility is taboo in Africa," said Willem Ombelet, head of a task force at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology looking into infertility in developing countries. "Nobody has paid attention to this issue, but it is a huge problem and we need to do something."
At a media briefing at the society's annual conference in Barcelona, Ombelet said that he and colleagues were deciding in which countries to test the new procedure.
A small number of women already have been treated in Khartoum, Sudan, and other projects are expected to start soon in South Africa and Tanzania.
Lower cost, but also lower success rateThe cheap version of IVF costs less than $200. Standard IVF treatments in the West cost up to $10,000.
Instead of using expensive lab equipment and medicines, experts said cheaper options could also work. For instance, rather than using an expensive incubator to create an embryo, Ombelet said that a water bath could be used in Africa.
Less expensive medicines also would effectively stimulate women's ovaries to produce more eggs, and costs could be further cut by using cheaper needles and catheters.
But because fewer eggs would be produced by using the cheaper drugs, the success rate would also be lower. In developed countries, IVF is usually successful in about 20 percent of cases. But in Africa, Ombelet estimates it would probably be about 15 percent.
The inexpensive procedure has been used on cows and a small number of women. Researchers in the United States are working on developing an even cheaper IVF procedure that might be more effective.
Despite dozens of other health priorities — from AIDS to pneumonia to malaria — experts said it was worthwhile to introduce a cheap version of IVF.
Some women labeled as witchesIn Africa, where infertility is more common than in the West, women often suffer the problem after complications from unsafe deliveries, abortions or infections.
"The cost of being infertile in Africa is much greater than in the West," said Oluwole Akande, an emeritus professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Akande acknowledged the price of the procedure would still be available only to Africa's upper and middle classes.
He said that in many parts of Africa women who are unable to have children become social outcasts, are labelled as witches, and in extreme cases, are even driven to suicide.
Sembuya Rita, an infertility activist from Uganda, said it was essential for public health officials to address the issue. "It's a fundamental right for every person to have a child," she said.
Rita said that infertile women often were economically disadvantaged as their husbands left them for other women and were cut out of family inheritances.
Experts said that even if millions of women were treated with low-cost IVF, it would only result in a one to two percent boost in the overall population.
But with limited funds for public health, officials admitted it would be a tough sell.
"It's definitely going to be viewed as a lower priority," said Dr. Sheryl Vanderpoel, a reproductive health expert at the World Health Organization.
SOURCE: msnbc.com
Monday, April 6, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Local fertility doctor scores another first
A Kenyan doctor, Dr Joshua Noreh has discovered a new way of increasing the success rate for pregnancies among couples with infertility problems. The new method has increased pregnancy success rates by up to 50 per cent.
It has also ensured embryos are transferred at the right time, just when the uterus is ready for implantation, significantly reducing failure rates.
With this method, the number of embryos transferred in a single treatment cycle will reduce from three to one, resulting in fewer multiple pregnancies. It also ensures availability of embryos for a couple intending to have more children in future.
In-vitro-fertilisation
This is good news for couples who have been spending more than Sh700,000 in repeat treatments after initial fertility procedures fail. The new method will cost Sh300,000, with no need for repeat procedures.
The technique is an improved in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure in which the number of days an egg is left to develop into an embryo before being transferred into a woman’s uterus has been increased from two to five.
Presenting his findings to fellow doctors during the East, Central and Southern Africa Association of Obstetrical and Gynaecological Societies forum held in Mombasa, Kenya last week, Dr Joshua Noreh of Nairobi IVF Centre described the development as the best advances in the field in the past three years.
“What we are experiencing in our clinic is something that can improve management of couples with infertility problems, and the practice of IVF in Kenyan clinics currently offering this form of treatment to women and men,” says Dr Noreh.
IVF is a procedure in which eggs are taken from a woman and sperm from a man before they are fertilised in a laboratory. The resulting embryos are then transferred back to her uterus for pregnancy to take place.
The first IVF baby in the world was born in July 1978 in England. Locally, the procedure costs between Sh300,000 and Sh400,000 depending on the severity of infertility.
The technique is usually used on women without eggs or with blocked or damaged Fallopian tube – the pipe through which the egg travels from the ovary to the uterus for implantation to take place – and men with poor sperm quality.
Initially, after retrieving the egg from the woman and fertilising it, the egg was left for two days to develop into an embryo and then transferred to the uterus for normal pregnancy to take place.
The pregnancy rate with this procedure was 26 per cent, meaning women who failed to get pregnant had to spend another Sh250,000 for a repeat procedure.
Such outcomes so disturbed Dr Noreh and his embryologist, Dr Tucs Olegs, that they decided to increase the number of days of embryo development in the test tube to five days.
Although results of the first cases were not significant, they were a great improvement. The real success came last year in subsequent treatment cycles, with pregnancy success rate increasing from 26.1 per cent to 52 per cent and has since remained like that.
“Any improved pregnancy rates like this means many couples will take home babies after the first treatment cycle, avoiding the costs and stress associated with repeat treatment,” says Dr Noreh.
The success is a major development since 2006 when he made history by delivering the first test tube babies locally.
By end of last year, Dr Noreh’s Nairobi IVF Centre had delivered 96 test tube babies. The oldest is now two years and nine months.
It has also ensured embryos are transferred at the right time, just when the uterus is ready for implantation, significantly reducing failure rates.
With this method, the number of embryos transferred in a single treatment cycle will reduce from three to one, resulting in fewer multiple pregnancies. It also ensures availability of embryos for a couple intending to have more children in future.
In-vitro-fertilisation
This is good news for couples who have been spending more than Sh700,000 in repeat treatments after initial fertility procedures fail. The new method will cost Sh300,000, with no need for repeat procedures.
The technique is an improved in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedure in which the number of days an egg is left to develop into an embryo before being transferred into a woman’s uterus has been increased from two to five.
Presenting his findings to fellow doctors during the East, Central and Southern Africa Association of Obstetrical and Gynaecological Societies forum held in Mombasa, Kenya last week, Dr Joshua Noreh of Nairobi IVF Centre described the development as the best advances in the field in the past three years.
“What we are experiencing in our clinic is something that can improve management of couples with infertility problems, and the practice of IVF in Kenyan clinics currently offering this form of treatment to women and men,” says Dr Noreh.
IVF is a procedure in which eggs are taken from a woman and sperm from a man before they are fertilised in a laboratory. The resulting embryos are then transferred back to her uterus for pregnancy to take place.
The first IVF baby in the world was born in July 1978 in England. Locally, the procedure costs between Sh300,000 and Sh400,000 depending on the severity of infertility.
The technique is usually used on women without eggs or with blocked or damaged Fallopian tube – the pipe through which the egg travels from the ovary to the uterus for implantation to take place – and men with poor sperm quality.
Initially, after retrieving the egg from the woman and fertilising it, the egg was left for two days to develop into an embryo and then transferred to the uterus for normal pregnancy to take place.
The pregnancy rate with this procedure was 26 per cent, meaning women who failed to get pregnant had to spend another Sh250,000 for a repeat procedure.
Such outcomes so disturbed Dr Noreh and his embryologist, Dr Tucs Olegs, that they decided to increase the number of days of embryo development in the test tube to five days.
Although results of the first cases were not significant, they were a great improvement. The real success came last year in subsequent treatment cycles, with pregnancy success rate increasing from 26.1 per cent to 52 per cent and has since remained like that.
“Any improved pregnancy rates like this means many couples will take home babies after the first treatment cycle, avoiding the costs and stress associated with repeat treatment,” says Dr Noreh.
The success is a major development since 2006 when he made history by delivering the first test tube babies locally.
By end of last year, Dr Noreh’s Nairobi IVF Centre had delivered 96 test tube babies. The oldest is now two years and nine months.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Uganda’s first test tube baby is four years old
UGANDA’S first test tube baby celebrated her fourth birthday on October 2, 2008. She has finished Middle Class at a nursery school in Kampala and is going on to Top Class. She plays joyfully along with other children, laughs, talks and sings nursery rhymes, like any child her age.
Her parents had endured years of childlessness. They had consulted all major hospitals in vain. A “miracle” came their way when they eventually landed at the Bukoto based Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre. Her mother conceived with the aid of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.
The IVF involved removing a ripe egg from a woman’s ovary, fertilising it in a dish using the husband’s sperm and then placing the embryo in the woman’s womb. Thirty six weeks later, the baby girl was born. Dr. Tamale Ssali, the director of the centre, says the scientific procedure has brought hope to hundreds of couples were hitherto unable to conceive. He says at least 100 patients are able to conceive every year after receiving the treatment.
So far, over 150 babies have been born through IVF in Uganda in 80 deliveries, implying that most of them were twins. Uganda was the first country in east and central Africa to introduce the phenomenon. The cost of the treatment depends on the cause of infertility but is between sh6m and sh12m. Most couples who resort to IVF are those where the husband cannot produce sperm during sexual intercourse, Ssali says. “Prevalence of infertility is 15-20% here,” says an expatriate doctor at the centre. “My experience in Kampala is that most sperm problems arise from infections.” Women may have problems with their uteruses or fallopian tubes. For others, it is age.
It is estimated that beyond the age of 37, fertility goes down tremendously. There are also younger women who go for IVF to give part of their eggs to an older woman, for a fee. And for some couples, it might be because one of them is HIV positive and does not want to infect the other during intercourse.
However, information about individuals involved in IVF is scanty because of the fear of stigma directed at the parents and their newborns. Others find it leaves them feeling inadequate. One of the mothers, whom Saturday Vision met at the centre confided that she still wonders about her husband. “Sometimes I think he will go for another woman. I keep on thinking that he will want a child through the natural process.” But she is happy that she has her baby. “I breastfeed her, take her for immunisation, buy her a lot of all those little baby things you can think of. When she smiles at me, I feel so happy,” the woman says with a broad smile. Ssali agrees:. “Some people may think the child is some artificial thing. Yet, it is real.” He says some parents come out of it withdrawn. “There are some you meet in town and they look away. Maybe, they think that you are going to tell somebody else that this is the person who did this and that. Some leave as soon as they have had their baby and you never see or hear from them again,” he adds. Ssali stresses: “God has helped us develop a technique that prevents childlessness, an issue that brings misery into many homes.”
Internationally, test tube babies have been appreciated as normal. Louise Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby, gave birth to a baby boy last year, ending fears that girls born through IVF treatment may not be able to have healthy children. Brown, 28, conceived naturally.
Her parents had endured years of childlessness. They had consulted all major hospitals in vain. A “miracle” came their way when they eventually landed at the Bukoto based Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre. Her mother conceived with the aid of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.
The IVF involved removing a ripe egg from a woman’s ovary, fertilising it in a dish using the husband’s sperm and then placing the embryo in the woman’s womb. Thirty six weeks later, the baby girl was born. Dr. Tamale Ssali, the director of the centre, says the scientific procedure has brought hope to hundreds of couples were hitherto unable to conceive. He says at least 100 patients are able to conceive every year after receiving the treatment.
So far, over 150 babies have been born through IVF in Uganda in 80 deliveries, implying that most of them were twins. Uganda was the first country in east and central Africa to introduce the phenomenon. The cost of the treatment depends on the cause of infertility but is between sh6m and sh12m. Most couples who resort to IVF are those where the husband cannot produce sperm during sexual intercourse, Ssali says. “Prevalence of infertility is 15-20% here,” says an expatriate doctor at the centre. “My experience in Kampala is that most sperm problems arise from infections.” Women may have problems with their uteruses or fallopian tubes. For others, it is age.
It is estimated that beyond the age of 37, fertility goes down tremendously. There are also younger women who go for IVF to give part of their eggs to an older woman, for a fee. And for some couples, it might be because one of them is HIV positive and does not want to infect the other during intercourse.
However, information about individuals involved in IVF is scanty because of the fear of stigma directed at the parents and their newborns. Others find it leaves them feeling inadequate. One of the mothers, whom Saturday Vision met at the centre confided that she still wonders about her husband. “Sometimes I think he will go for another woman. I keep on thinking that he will want a child through the natural process.” But she is happy that she has her baby. “I breastfeed her, take her for immunisation, buy her a lot of all those little baby things you can think of. When she smiles at me, I feel so happy,” the woman says with a broad smile. Ssali agrees:. “Some people may think the child is some artificial thing. Yet, it is real.” He says some parents come out of it withdrawn. “There are some you meet in town and they look away. Maybe, they think that you are going to tell somebody else that this is the person who did this and that. Some leave as soon as they have had their baby and you never see or hear from them again,” he adds. Ssali stresses: “God has helped us develop a technique that prevents childlessness, an issue that brings misery into many homes.”
Internationally, test tube babies have been appreciated as normal. Louise Brown, the world’s first test-tube baby, gave birth to a baby boy last year, ending fears that girls born through IVF treatment may not be able to have healthy children. Brown, 28, conceived naturally.
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