Did you know? | gravesinmywomb1

Infertility Myths

Infertility is a women’s problem.
If you adopt a baby you’ll get pregnant!
Perhaps this is God’s way of telling you that you two aren’t meant to be parents!
You must have done something wrong to deserve what is happening to you
Childfree living is never a choice if you are infertile.
Black women don't "give up our babies", and we don't adopt

Fertility treatment goals

To ensure patient safety
To help a couple experience a healthy pregnancy and birth or an alternative way to build a family
To use as little of a couple’s resources as necessary
Keep couple’s bond strong during treatment

Principles of care

Couple centred management
Access to evidence based information
Counselling (third person)
Contact with fertility support groups
Specialist teams

Is infertility on the rise in South Africa?

South Africa displays demographic regimes that are typical of both developed and developing worlds.
- These tend to be linked to socio-economic divisions along racial and urban-rural lines.
Since legalised abortion in 1997, there has been an increase in the number of pregnancy terminations in public health care institutions. The private sector has also responded to the need to provide the services.
- Literature in this regard suggests that, in countries where legal abortions are common – fertility decreases.
In prior years, couples would go for two or three years before seeking treatment;
- Now couples who have only been trying for a few months seek treatment/understanding on whether there is anything wrong.
- Through social media and other news sources, they better understand the options that are available to them.
- People are more open in sharing their conception experiences.

Is infertility a priority in South Africa

South Africa has one of the lowest fertility levels in Africa and the fertility levels continues to drop.
- HIV has had a depressing impact on fertility in South Africa.
  - SA’s fertility rate has been on the decline for the past six decades
  - Infertility awareness and education is not a priority

The current total fertility rate of South Africa stands at 2,5
The government began to provide strong support for family planning in the 1960s.
- It must, however, made clear that many African women adopted family planning despite the political agenda of the programme.

Humiliation

Even today, in modern times of advanced medicine & deeper social awareness, women still feel disgraced and humiliated when they confess they have fertility issues.

In some ancient cultures it was an acceptable practice for men to hang their wives if they failed to produce an offspring with in the agreed upon time.
In more recent times, women have been victims of “kitchen burnings.” This Indian practice calls for the disgruntled spouse to tie his wife to a chair and set her afire in their kitchen.
In some African cultures a man is allowed to impregnate a concubine if his wife is unable to conceive.