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By Doris Obinna
Fertility experts have warned that cases of infertility are rising among young people and expressed worries that the situation might continue to worsen as its drivers of the rise are unabating over time.
They expressed this at the public launch of two books, “Infertility: What You Must Know Before Saying, ‘I Do’” and “Why Some Men Shoot Blank Shots,” held in Lagos, recently.
Speaking, the guest lecturer, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, said that there has been an increase in infertility in both young women and men in recent years.
Ajayi noted that the rise in infertility is not peculiar to Nigeria but a global problem. He however, admitted that Nigeria is not good with keeping data and cited statistics from the United State’ Centre for Disease Control (CDC.)
“According to the CDC, infertility in women aged 15 and 45 stood at 13.4 per cent while among married people it is about 8.5 per cent. But when they looked at it from 2011- 2015 versus 2015 to 2019, there was a definite increase in the number of married women who had infertility.”
According to him, men are getting more infertile, about 50 to 60 per cent of infertility are from men and it might get worse because the conditions that are leading to this might continue to be there. “Men without sperms (azospermic) make up about 15 per cent. They have sex, they ejaculate but there are no soldiers in the ejaculate so there is no way they can impregnate their wives on their own.”
Some of the drivers of rising infertility he identified include lifestyle factors such as early exposure of young people to pornography via the internet which lure them into experimenting sex early, sexually transmitted infections, environmental exposures; eg exposure to heavy metals via mining, keeping laptop on the lap or phone in the pocket and aging, among other factors.
He noted that while effects of style factors are reversible if tackled early, however, aging is irreversible and advised young people who want to delay childbearing to take medical steps to secure their reproductive future.
While reviewing the two books, a Consultant Gynaecologist and Managing Director, Living Spring Hospital, Lagos, Dr Joseph Akinde, acknowledged the knowledge gap around fertility and reproductive health among young people and stressed the need for early fertility awareness to help young people avoid lifestyle choices that could mortgage their fertility.
Earlier in her welcome remarks, the author, Ms Uche Akolisa, noted that her books were inspired by the need to create fertility/reproductive health-awareness among young people.
“Fertility and sexual/reproductive health are very important issues of life that call for more attention by young adults before marriage, especially in the light of rising infertility. If young people are fertility-aware, it would reset how they make lifestyle choices well before marriage.”
Some of the topics explored in the books which are products of research and interviews with fertility experts conducted by the author who is also a journalist include sexually transmitted diseases and chronic diseases that cause infertility, occupational hazards that impair fertility and how to manage them as well as male infertility factors such as low sperm count, ejaculatory disorders and congenital factors among others.
