African Women Battle Infertility Taboos
Infertility can be hard for any woman and the idea of not being able to have a child of your own can be totally devastating but for women in some parts of Africa it's even worse than any of us could imagine.
The pressure to bear children and continue the family line is huge in countries such as Sudan and Malawi and any woman not able to carry out this duty is considered an outcast or even a witch by the community around her.
Witchhunts still occur in certain places in Africa and anyone suspected of witchcraft- even if those suspicions are just based on malicious gossip- can be thrown out of a village, locked away in a special 'witch camp' or even tortured.
Now officials are planning to solve the infertility taboo in these countries by providing cheap IVF treatment for those women affected. But is that really the best way to solve the problem? Or is it simply playing up to the notion that an infertile woman in surplus to the requirements of society?
"Infertility is taboo in Africa," said Willem Ombelet, head of a task force at the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology looking into infertility in developing countries. "Nobody has paid attention to this issue, but it is a huge problem and we need to do something."
At a media briefing at the society's annual conference in Barcelona, Ombelet said that he and colleagues were deciding in which countries to test the new procedure whcih will see women being offered a cheap version of IVF which costs less than £100 -standard IVF treatments in the West cost up to £5,000.
The treatment can be offered at such a low price due to changes in the methods used. For example where an expensive incubator is used to create an embryo in the western world, Ombelet said that a simple water bath could be used in Africa.
Medicines and equipment used would also be a cheaper version of what is most commonly used around the world- but is this ethical? Are we saying that although we wouldn't use these methods on our own women, they are adequate enough for African women?
The difference in the cheaper IVF procedures also means that they are less effective.The success rate with western methods is around 20% while Ombelet estimates it would probably be about 15% using this new scheme.
Surely this is going to make matters worse- a woman who is outcast for being infertile could perhaps be rejected further if she still can't conceive even after getting help?
It's difficult to know what is the right thing to do in this situation....On the surface these women will be grateful of any help they can get to be able to bear children and be accepted by their communities but if we think long term then shouldn't we be educating both the men and women in these countries? Surely we should be showing them that a woman is more than just a baby-making machine and that they have plenty more to offer to society? But then again who are we to meddle in the belief systems of another culture?
Let us know what you think below............
Caz Moss- Female First