African First Ladies continue to wage their war against stigmatisation of women battling infertility yearning for societal change while initiating discussions on how to integrate infertility treatment into the public healthcare systems.
By Kudakwashe Pembere
Namibia’s First Lady Mrs. Monica Geingos at the 9th Merck Foundation Africa Asia Luminary Conference said they are witnessing a high number of women being rejected by their partners due to infertility issues thus resorting to alcohol abuse.
“We had to intervene on psychosocial issues like substance abuse, but also refer them to psychological treatment and support services, and assist them to access legal services, because often, there are divorce proceedings as a result, when family mediation doesn’t work,” said Geingos at the celebration of Merck Foundation’s fifth anniversary in Dubai earlier this week.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines infertility as a disease of the male or female reproductive system defined by the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse.
In the male reproductive system, infertility is most commonly caused by problems in the ejection of semen, absence or low levels of sperm, or abnormal shape (morphology) and movement (motility) of the sperm.
In the female reproductive system, infertility may be caused by a range of abnormalities of the ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, and endocrine system, among others.
The Namibian First Lady added access to affordable treatment for infertility would help mitigate societal stigma.
“It’s creating an environment where we all understand that the end goal is to make access and affordability of infertility treatment key as we deal with all of the society’s societal issues. All of us are focused, very much uncovered all of the consequences and issues like infertility that we’ve historically neglected, or even lower in our priority list than what they used to be,” she said.
She said things they saw very clearly are the integration of infertility care with mental health care.
“We certainly had to provide some mental health care support to some of the people who attended the infertility workshops. One of the things that came out the most in the conference was people saying to us, ‘I thought I was alone. I didn’t realise that so many other people are going through exactly what I’m going through’,” recalled Geingos.
Botswana First Lady Neo Masisi shared that the country only has one fertility specialist and that women continue to suffer. “Women continue to suffer from social stigma, putting them further at risk of abuse by their partners, family members, and the community,” she said.
She said common to African states, the accessibility, affordability, and availability of fertility services remain a challenge in the landlocked southern African nation.
“There are a limited number of gynaecologists in the public sector and to illustrate the dire gap in service provision, there is only one fertility specialist who is in the private sector and based in the capital city, Gaborone,” informed Masisi.
Those in the rural areas are automatically disadvantaged as “not only can they not afford the use of these services but they do not have the economic muscle”.
The Merck Foundation Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Senator, Dr Rasha Kelej noted the Foundation’s achievements since establishment. This year’s Luminary also coincided with the Merck Foundation’s Fifth Anniversary which was established in 2017, five years after establishment of the Merck organisation.
“Since establishment, we have been doing a lot of work, a lot of development programs with a lot of success and huge improvement year after year. I am very proud to be here today and to showcase our impactful programs across Africa. We have up to now provided 1,470 scholarships to doctors in 50 countries which is a huge millstone,” said Dr Kelej.
The trained doctors according to Dr Kelej are already contributing to the transformation of patient care in their respective countries. The doctors were trained in sexual reproductive health, oncology, diabetes, respiratory care, pediatric emergency care amongst other specialties.
“These specialties are critical, though underserved in our countries. We are very proud that Merck Foundation has realized the right strategy to improve access to quality and equitable healthcare solutions in each country in Africa. We also provided training and services to some South East Asian countries and also Latin America.
