Childlessness: the stigma, cost and hope
For the past 10 years, a couple, in their effort to have children of their own, have had five unsuccessful infertility treatments. Mr and Mrs Amoah said their marriage days were full of joy, but after 10 years of living together without a child, they now share feelings of emptiness and hopelessness, like many other couples struggling with childlessness.
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“I have always wanted to be a father," said Mr Stephen Amoah, a 46 year old trader, as he looked at his wife, Mrs Christiana Amoah.
Christiana, as she is affectionately referred to by her husband, said her dream was to start a family “within our first year of marriage but months passed by and there was no pregnancy.”
After the first two years of trying to conceive, the couple started seeking help “because we could not stand the questions from friends, family members and neighbours.”
They visited hospitals, fertility centres, herbalists while prayer centres became their second home.
Mrs Amoah said, “we did tests upon tests but in all, we were told we had no medical problem.”
Each month, Mrs Amoah would get out of bed early in the morning for a urine test looking for two pink lines “but that was just a wish.”
“We spent millions of cedis on IUIs or artificial inseminations but when it did not work, doctors suggested IVF, one of the successful infertility treatments.”
After the two were taken through the procedure and the high rate of success of the method, it sounded the best option.
Yet the cost of over GH¢9,000, excluding preliminary medical examinations, was an out of reach price for the Amoahs.
“We were heartbroken when we left the doctor’s office,” Mr Amoah said, explaining that his income and that of his wife, a day care attendant, would take years to add up to that amount.
Fertility In Ghana
Infertility is a diagnosed disease and though there are no statistics in Ghana, the Chief Executive Officer of the Association of Childless Couples of Ghana, Mr Nana Yaw Asare, estimates that it affects 15 per cent of the population.
Although treatment for infertility including assisted reproductive treatment such as insemination, IVF and Intractytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) is widely available with improving success rates, few can afford it
A fertility expert at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Prof. A. T. Odoi, said the cost was the largest obstacle for people who wanted to receive treatment.
Even as Professor Odoi explains that there is hope for childless couples at a day’s conference on infertility and childlessness in Ghana, Christiana sits with her head cupped in her hand, as if her head might fall off if she does not hold it.
She sighs intermittently and looks at the other participants numbering over 1,500 attending the conference which was themed: ‘hope for childless couples’ while her husband scribbled something in his notebook.
At a point, when the CEO of the Childless Couples Association took his turn to speak at the conference, the couple exchanged smiles.
Mr Asare explained that to be childless meant to be without a child but it did not mean to be infertile.
“Infertile means to be unfruitful, sterile and unproductive.” We do not believe human beings can be barren. Our aim is to eliminate the stigma associated with childlessness.”
Then, he told the story of a 52-year-old woman who had undergone fertility treatment, had conceived and who had been delivered of triplets: two boys and a girl.
Excitement run through the conference room as people clapped and shouted praises to God.
He stated that as a result of fallopian tube blockages, more than 60 per cent of Ghanaian women were not able to have babies.
Mr Asare advised childless couples not to give up hope as they could have their own children or consider the option of adopting children legally.
Low cost IVF
At the conference, participants were introduced to a new method of assisted reproductive technology called the ‘walking egg,’ which would reduce the high cost of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) by more than 80 per cent.
Currently, the cost of IVF, excluding the necessary examinations, is more than GH¢9,000 in Ghana but the new method, found by some Belgium fertility experts, seeks to reduce the price to less than GH¢1000.
A number of childless couples have not been able to access assisted reproductive technologies as a result of the high cost.
Infertility could be caused by abortion, sexually transmitted disease, infected tubal blockage, obstetric complications, low sperm count and sexual violence.
Consequences of childlessness include marital instability, increase in sexually transmitted diseases and social insecurity as people give birth to more children for economic reasons.
A Belgian fertility expert and lead researcher of the walking egg technology, Prof. Willem Ombelet, said the low cost technology “will make fertility care more affordable and accessible to a greater number of people.”
Prof. Ombelet explained that the new method was introduced in 2012 and pointed out that the technology could not completely replace conventional IVF.
He said men with severe infertility who required more advanced treatment in which the sperm was injected into the egg, known as intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, could also not benefit from the method.
The hope
So far, over five million babies have been born through IVF, yet many more couples are yet to be treated. It is hoped that more fertility centres in Ghana would open their doors to partner the Belgian low cost walking egg technology and make the dreams of childless men and women come true.
Writer’s email: [email protected]