First IVF clinic opens in Namibia

IVF is very much a reality of modern reproductive life in the west, to the extent that it's not all that uncommon for couples to think they have time to wait before having kids as they can "always have IVF later". It's a totally different story in the southern African country of Namibia, where infertility is a big problem. There, the very first fertility clinic just opened in the capital of Windhoek, giving many people hope of becoming parents for the first time. Matti Kimberg, one of the directors of the brand new clinic, said that infertility affects one in ten couples in Namibia. He said: "Infertility is a big problem in Namibia in the sense that we have high incidences of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Another factor is the blockage of the fallopian tubes in women, meaning a thick lining around the ovaries preventing sperm from entering the eggs, which is as a result of infection of fibroids."

Kimberg shared the interesting info that infertility is more common in women than in men in Namibia, because of high rates of blocked fallopian tubes. He also noted that both donor eggs and sperm will be available to patients of the Windhoek clinic from neighboring South Africa, and explained the infertility testing process in some detail. What's really fascinating, though, is that allAfrica, sharing the news of the opening of the clinic, felt the need to explain that the new fertility clinic would be helping couples "through a process called IVF, by which an egg is fertilized by sperm outside the body". In such a global world, it's hard to believe that anyone would be unaware of IVF. At the same time, the Namibian Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare and the US Peace Corps organized a conference to help young women build conference. It was filled with messages of abstinence and finishing education. Hopefully, this will reduce the STD rates and reduce the pressure on the new fertility clinic!