Task Force Developing Countries and Infertility

Worldwide more than 80 million couples suffer from infertility, the majority of this population are residents of third world countries (Fathalla, 1992). New reproductive technologies are either unavailable, scarcely available or very costly in so far that the large majority of the population cannot afford infertility treatment at all (Van Balen and Gerrits, 2001). After a fascinating period of more than 25 years of IVF, we must admit that only a small part of the world population benefits from these new reproductive technologies.

Optimising a concurrent infertility treatment-, family planning- and perinatal care- programme is probably one of the most important challenges for third world countries in the near future.

Objectives

- Documentation of the problem

- To develop and test the effectiveness of a simplified “one-step clinic for the diagnosis of infertility”

- To develop and test the effectiviness of a simplified IVF

- To develop strategies for minimizing the risks and complications of ART

- To promote the go-together of family planning, motherhood care and infertility treatment

- Searching for the optimal strategy algorithm for subfertile couples in developing countries with emphasis on non-IVF treatment and other (surgical or medical) options before starting IVF. The organisation of an annual pre-congress course on the occasion of the ESHRE-meetings

- The organisation of expert meetings

- The organisation of training-courses for fertility specialists and paramedicals from third world countries

- Approaching the media (medical and non-medical) to make them aware of the immense problem

- Working together with other non-profit organisations with common interests

- Search for “private” and “non-private” funding  

Chairman

Willem Ombelet

Genk Institute for Fertility Technology, Genk, Belgium

E-mail: willem.ombelet@zol.be

Members

Ian Cooke Emeritus Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Sheffield, United Kingdom

E-mail: i.d.cooke@sheffield.ac.uk

Ragaa Mansour The Egyptian IVF-ET Center Cairo, Egypt

E-mail: ivf@link.net