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(wz) A hospital in Ikeja, Lagos, St Ives Hospital, has successfully delivered its first In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) baby, a male, weighing 3.0kg. He was delivered after 37 weeks gestation period.
Speaking at the weekend on the breakthrough, Dr. Tunde Okewale, who led the delivery team, said IVF has become an acceptable method of assisting infertile couples.
The benefiting couple, it was gathered, had a few problems that had prevented them from having a baby, six years after they got married.
While the man had a low sperm count, the woman’s tube was suspected to have been blocked. But after undergoing fertility treatment, they now have their own baby.
Investigations revealed that Nigeria has about 12 IVF centres but the nation’s infrastructure problems have made it almost impossible for them to operate at their optimum.
The Lagos University Teaching Hospital is reputed to have pioneered advanced fertility treatment in 1989 but has no IVF centre. more…

From: »The Tide« (Nigeria)

(sz) When Anya Sizer was enduring IVF, her sessions of ‘Fertility coaching’ were a lifeline. [...] new alternative therapy.
Anya Sizer’s garden is scattered with toys – just the way she always wanted it. Yet there were moments when this happy scene with Hope, five, and Barney, 22 months, was a distant dream. Soon after marrying at 23, she and her husband Damion started trying for a baby. But when months went by, they decided to investigate.
The result was devastating: tests showed that Damion had azoospermia, where there is no sperm in the ejaculate. The couple were given a one in 125,000 chance of getting pregnant and told that IVF was unlikely to help. “It was like someone had hit me,” says Sizer. “You have to suddenly face issues you never thought you’d ever have to think about.”
They decided to give IVF a try anyway, and Sizer became pregnant on the first attempt. Having always dreamt of a big family, however, there was another blow when she was diagnosed as pre-menopausal and found to be producing only a limited number of eggs. They underwent another four rounds of IVF and, after two miscarriages, Sizer fell pregnant with Barney.
During her six-year struggle, Sizer explored every avenue possible that might help them conceive. “It becomes like a really sick hobby,” she says. “All of our life was either acupuncture, eating healthily or coaching. You become so tunnel-visioned unless you really work at it. From the outside, I think people don’t understand what it’s like, how focused and one-tracked you can become.”
It is an increasingly common experience among British women; with an IVF success rate of only one in four using fresh eggs, couples are looking at alternative ways to aid their fertility. The one thing Sizer felt was really beneficial was talking to a fertility coach, who focuses on the emotions and insecurities evoked by infertility and IVF. more…

From: »The Independent«

(sz) Fertility experts have cast doubt on a pill designed by an Australian scientist who claims it doubles pregnancy rates in infertile couples.
Menevit, a supplement containing seven anti-oxidants and minerals, claims to improve the chances of pregnancy for the one in 20 men affected by male infertility.
The pill, available over the counter for $1 a day, was developed by Kelton Tremellen from the University of Adelaide. It is sold through pharmaceutical company Bayer. It contains vitamins C and E, zinc, folic acid, lycopene, garlic oil and selenium.
Dr Tremellen said the pill worked by neutralising the free radicals that help break down sperm DNA, resulting in a greater risk of infertility, miscarriage and birth defects.
One in six couples has trouble conceiving and the man is the sole reason in 30 per cent of cases. Factors such as drinking, smoking and exposure to environmental pollutants can cause free radicals in the body.
In a trial of 60 men with severe infertility, two-thirds were given the tablet daily for three months before trying to conceive through IVF.
Dr Tremellen said those treated with the pill had a “statistically significant improvement in viable pregnancy rate compared to the control group” with 38.5 per cent of transferred embryos resulting in a pregnancy past 13 weeks. In the control group only 16 per cent maintained a pregnancy into the second trimester.
But University of Melbourne fertility expert Hugh Baker and Melbourne IVF scientific director David Edgar have criticised the trial in a letter to the Australian And New Zealand Journal Of Obstetrics And Gynaecology. more…

From: »The Sidney Morning Herald«

(wz) Selecting the sex of babies goes back to the Greek Empire and will get cheaper, easier and harder to regulate against, international scientist Professor Lord Robert Winston says.
The world-renowned human reproduction expert and BBC documentary star spoke to the Herald on Sunday, before receiving an honorary doctor of science from the University of Auckland last night.
Jenny Gibbs, 25 years on the university’s council and twice pro-chancellor, received an honorary doctor of literature at the same ceremony.
Professor Winston, who frequently addresses Britain’s House of Lords - of which he is a member - on education, science, medicine and the arts, told the Herald the current debate in New Zealand on legalising sex selection in IVF babies was being over-hyped.
The Bioethics Council last week advised the Government there were insufficient cultural, ethical and spiritual reasons to prohibit the use of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for sex selection for social reasons, such as family balancing - providing the PGD was done at the parents’ cost. more…

From: »The New Zealand Herald«

(cz) A national strategy has been launched today to reduce the number of multiple pregnancies in the UK.
The issue is being targeted as multiple pregnancies are the single biggest health risk of fertility treatment.
Over the next three years the strategy will aim to reduce the rate of multiple births from the national average of 24 per cent of all IVF births to ten per cent over three years.
From January 2009 all fertility clinics will be expected not to exceed the 24 per cent maximum.
Guidance is due to be published in the next few weeks advising professionals on best practice and a website - oneatatime.org.uk - has been set up with information for patients and professionals.
“For many people who have gone through the emotional rollercoaster of fertility treatment, the prospect of having an instant family with twins is very appealing,” said Jane Denton, director of the Multiple Birth Foundation. more…

From: »www.InTheNews.co.uk«

(sz) IVF clinics are denying treatment to smokers in the latest indication of creeping barriers to childless couples seeking help, it has emerged.
A Department of Health survey seen by Labour MP Sally Keeble last week reveals that clinics are increasingly telling mothers that they must quit cigarettes before they are considered for free treatment.
It comes amid growing concern that IVF is being restricted, with some infertile couples only receiving one cycle of treatment under the NHS, against official guidance.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) has said that clinics should offer three cycles of treatment, but four years after making the recommendation, only a third of health trusts provide more than one cycle.
News that women - and on occasions their partners - have been told to quit smoking before given treatment is likely to reignite the debate over the line between advice and restrictions in the area of IVF. more…

From: »The Press Association«

(sz) Director, Reproductive Medicine Associates, Troy, Michigan, USA, Dr Tariq Ahmad Shah, underlined the need to set up an In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) centre in Kashmir so that childless couples are evaluated and causes established at proper time. Dr Shah was speaking at the symposium, “Infertility Update-2008”, organised by the department of Urology and Endocrinology, Sher-e-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences, Soura here today. “It is an irony the state is without an IVF centre,” Dr Shah said. “Government should take immediate measures to set up IVF centres to save people from undertaking arduous journeys outside the state.”
Current estimates, based on the study conducted by the department of Endocrinology, SKIMS, suggest that around 15.7% of women in Kashmir who are currently of childbearing age will never have a child, if they do not seek clinical intervention.
Dr Shah while guiding along the path of achieving a pregnancy, took the audience step-by-step through the causes, investigations and infertility treatment options, as well as assisted reproductive technologies, such as the IVF, their success rates and ethical aspects involved. “Unfortunately, infertility is not regarded as a disease here, hence the delay in consulting a clinician and hence the treatment,” he said. “With the advent and advancement of technology available at present, the success rate to ward off childlessness is almost 50 to 60 per cent.”
He stressed the need to involve the print and electronic media, civil societies and religious scholars to spread awareness and do away with the misconceptions regarding the techniques available today. “It is important to involve religious scholars in order to adopt a more rational approach towards the problem of infertility,” he said.
“The critics of IVF are bound, of course, to draw attention to the fact of infertility. But it seems that, often, they fail to convey the scale of despair and courage shown by those who it most cruelly affects. There’s no bigger happiness in the life of a married couple to have a child, after all.”
Director SKIMS, Dr Hamid Zargar, a reputed endocrinologist, elaborately dealt with the infertility issue in his presentation. He said: “The magnitude of infertility, its psychological and economic impact on its sufferers is awesome.” more…

From: »Greater Kashmir«

(wz) Anglo Arab Organisation, Royal Society of Medicine continue to host lecture program of senior Arab scientists in Britain.
The “In Vitro Fertilisation” lecture, hosted by the Anglo Arab Organisation (AAO) and the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) in London, turned into a platform for dialogue on how monotheistic religions and different cultures view this controversial issue.
The renowned Egyptian-born fertility specialist Dr. Mohammed Taranissi, gave a brief on the history of “test-tube children” and the evolution in this scientific endeavor to a large audience.
Taranissi highlighted the controversial issues in this type of scientific research and what could be determined by ethical values in every society.
Critical questions were asked by Arab and Western specialists as well as members of the curious audience who are still exploring the aspects of generating artificial embryos, using some of them and destroying others.
Taranissi gave his point of view on the subject from the scientific perspective, pointing out that the generation of embryos and its damage occur naturally, adding “the work of doctors and scientists proves what is already happening.” more...

From: »MiddleEastOnline«

(wz) United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has turned down a draft national law on in-vitro fertilization (IVF) expressing concern over a clause he found discriminatory.
Sheikh Khalifa condemned as discriminatory a clause in the draft law, which called for the appointment of at least one Muslim IVF specialist among the staff of every IVF centre across the country, the Gulf News reported.
“The clause not only contradicts international conventions which prohibits all forms of discrimination but also contravenes Article 25 of the UAE Constitution which states that all persons are equal before the law, without distinction between citizens of the union in regard to race, nationality, religious belief or social status,” the report quoted the president as saying in a statement to the Federal National Council (FNC). Under IVF, egg cells are fertilized with sperm outside the woman’s womb.
The process involves hormonally controlling the ovulatory process, removing ova or eggs from the woman’s ovaries and letting sperm fertilize them in a fluid medium. The fertilized egg is then transferred to the patient’s uterus with the intent to establish a successful pregnancy.
In his statement to the FNC, Sheikh Khalifa also said that matters pertaining to the appointment of medical, technical and administrative staff of the IVF centres should be addressed by the executive statute of the law. more…

From: »mangalorean.com«

(sz) Do not expect a speedy Government decision about whether parents of children conceived by invitro fertilisation should have the right to choose the sex of their babies, was the message from two University of Otago academics yesterday [June, 19th – ed.].
They were commenting on the Bioethics Council report Who Gets Born? released this week which will recommend to the Government that there is insufficient reason to ban the use of sex selection for social reasons such as balancing the sexes in a family.
Human Genome Research Project director Prof Mark Henaghan said IVF babies accounted for only about 3% of births and not all parents would want to choose the sex of their babies.
It appeared there was no clear evidence of the choice doing any harm.
People who saw the recommendation as part of a slippery slope should be mindful such a slope did not have to be “whistled” down.
It could be taken in cautious steps, with negotiation and debate along the way.
The good thing about the issue being raised was that it would be debated around the tea table and people would become more comfortable with the idea.
Biomedical ethics Professor Grant Gillett said he could not see the sex selection issue being accepted as policy. more…

From: »Otago Daily Times« (New Zealand)