Dr Padi Ayertey, the Secretary of the Fertility Society of Ghana (FERSOG), has disclosed that fertility drops from age 18 as women continuously lose about 1,000 eggs monthly from that age.
Dr. Ayertey, who is the Medical Director of Elimmas Health, disclosing this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the annual general meeting and scientific conference of FERSOG, stated that delay in childbirth increases infertility among women.
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He noted that, “The delay causes us a lot of problems mainly because a woman loses about 1000 eggs every month and does not get any new eggs.”
He added that a woman’s peak of fertility was between 8years and about 28 years, stressing that “when she passes that age, her fertility continues dropping significantly. It starts dropping from 18; you are losing every month, and by the time you reach 35 years, essentially, most of the eggs are gone.”
According to him, the biggest challenge faced by fertility experts in Ghana was the ability for people to recognise that if they wanted to have children, they must start early, instead of deferring it to later.
He reiterated that, “it is important that we do not defer childbearing; you can do anything later, a PhD at the age of 90 if you want, but you cannot have a child at that time. So, if you intend to have children, the earlier you do it, the better for us; some do not want to have them, and that is okay.”
Dr Ayitey emphasised that people were having children a bit too late, mainly because they did not recognise the fact that the gamete, the number of genes and eggs they were born with, diminished over time.
“This means, infertility is increasing because people are trying to have children a lot later in life, when it is more difficult than early in life.”
Professor Titus Beyuo, former General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association and Member of Parliament for Lambussie, giving the keynote address, said the burden of infertility was a significant issue in Ghana, which was multi-faceted and deeply rooted in biological, environmental, and socio-cultural etiologists.
Prof. Beyuo disclosed that in recent years there had been an increasing rate of infertility in Ghana due to factors such as delayed childbearing, stressing that, “as we are promoting girl child education and everybody wants to become a PhD holder, fertility is delayed, and by the time you are ready, fertility declines and infertility sets in.”
He added that there were also rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases, obesity, poor life choices, and environmental toxins, as well as increased stress, all contributing to the increase in infertility.
He called for an increase in awareness creation by professionals on infertility causes and the various available solutions, urging FERSOG to use the media to educate the public instead of leaving the space to herbalists and spiritualists to explore.
Prof. Beyuo stressed that, “we need to include sexual and reproductive health education, because even in the university, people believe that infertility is a curse; we have a long way to go.”
He added that there is also the need to reduce the burden of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unsafe abortion practices, as well as lifestyle changes to prevent obesity and stress.
