No fewer than 2,500 babies are said to be born yearly in Nigeria through assisted reproductive technology (ART), especially In-Vitro Fertilization(IVF) system.
This was disclosed in Lagos on Friday by the Chairman\CEO of Medical Art Centre and a consultant reproductive endocrinologist, Prof Oladapo Ashiru, at a news conference towards the 30th anniversary of the centre.
Prof. Ashiru’s team pioneered the IVF treatment method in Sub-Sahara Africa, and he is the President of the Academy of Medicine Specialties and the Africa Reproductive Care Society.
He explained that even though the assisted reproductive treatment may not work for all couples, who desire to have their own biological children due to one critical condition or another including old age, the system has worked for so many couples with fertility challenges in the country.
He said his own clinic, Medical Art Centre, alone, has been able to handle cases with over 3,000 babies born in 30 years of its operations through ART, adding that there are up to 170 fertility clinics with only about 20 of them duly registered now across the country.
He noted that between 7,000 and 10,000 conception cycles are being carried out yearly by the IVF clinic registered members in the country and couples from many other African countries come to access IVF services in the country, with the development boosting Nigeria’s medical tourism.
While putting the success rate of infertility treatment at global level at 40 per cent, he pointed out that the Medical Art Centre has recorded more than that figure of all the cases its handled since inception and that the evolvement of new technology will certainly push up the figure significantly at both the global level and at the centre before the next decade.
He disclosed that infertility is preventable if both men and women right from their early ages in life stay away from causative factors, listing sexually transmitted diseases, environmental toxins, hard drugs, driving barefooted, inhaling of unwholesome chemicals substances including insecticides, using of lipsticks, and eating of unwholesome foods, as some of them.
He said it would be better if education on reproductive system like this is part of the students’ syllabus even from the primary school level.
Speaking on the 30 years journey of Medical Art Centre, which pioneered the field of fertility medicine in West Africa, Prof Ashiru, who is also the first black person globally to be elected as the Secretary-General of the International Federation of Fertility Societies(IFFS), a non-state global organisation on fertility, explained that the journey had been eventful.
He said the cost of IVF treatment in the country is huge based on the economy crisis, attributing the situation to high costs of medical equipment, medications and other needs.
He, however, pointed out that even at that, the clinic factors in the less priviledged couples, who need IVF services by subsidising their treatment up to about 75 per cent.
He said the clinic is also partnering many foundations to expand access for free IVF treatment.
According to him, there is Oladapo Ashiru Reproductive Health Solutions Foundation (OARS Foundation) as a social arm of the medical centre, offering heavily subsidized IVF services to less priviledged couples and many have benefitted through the gesture.
Similarly, he added, OARS Foundation also collaborates with some other fertility support foundations in the country including Ibidunni Ighodalo, Aneden Gives, Fruit of the womb, and Pharaoh foundations.
He said many couples had benefitted from the initiative.
Shedding light on the 30th anniversary of the Medical Art Centre, the medical director of the centre, Dr Mojisola Aderonmu, said there are lots of activities including public lecture earmarked to commemorate the anniversary.
