Medical experts in fertility and reproductive health issues have said infertility in men is difficult to handle.
They rated the percentage of the scourge in men and that of women equally. They also said 12 million couples across the country have infertility issues.
The scientists spoke in a statement in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, on Wednesday ahead of the sixth Annual International Confer-ence of the Association for Fertility and Reproductive Health (AFRH), in Port Harcourt.
Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) Professor John Ikimalo said contrary to the notion that infertility cases are more in women, men contribute significantly to it, and that treating infertility in men is more difficult than in women.
Ikimalo said men and women share 30 per cent (each) blame of identified causative factors, while 10 per cent goes to combined male and female factors, and 20 per cent has no medical explanation.
He urged Nigerian men to come out of their delusion, . seek medical help, present themselves for medical investigation, and support their wives to come out of the psychological stress and stigma associated with infertility, drawing strength from the reality of Assisted Reproductive Technology(ART). "The stress following infertility can be so psychologically devastating, that it can be likened to cancer stress, especially in Africa, and more to the women because it is generally believed infertility is a woman's problem, whereas it is equally the man's problem, and even more in men in some circumstances.
"Unfortunately, Nigerian men in our practice most of the time refuse to come for investigation. Meanwhile, statistics in different parts of the country have shown that in some areas, the number of men causing infertility is more than the women, and in most cases equal.
"Smoking and alcohol can reduce the quality and number of sperm cells produced by men. It is important to note that treating male fertility issues is quite difficult than that of the female.
"There are few drugs scientifically proven to treat male infertility, against the myth people are meant to be-lieve that the drugs are can be commonly accessed, and most importantly, there are no known food, diet that can im-prove sperm count in men, but female infertility is not like that," he said.
Speaking on the conference earliqr, the professor said the annual event, to be held for the first time in Port Harcourt, September 28-30, would at-tract participants from parts of the world.
He said the conference would treat, among others, semen quality, culture media, hysteroscopy and preimplantation genetic diagnosis, as well as advances in IVF, oocyte quality, long term IVF safety and stem cells, fertilitysparing surgery, and ICSI.
The association, which according to him, was inaugurated as Nigeria Fertility Society in 1992 and affiliated to the International Federation of Fertility Societies Worldwide, became AFRH in 2010.
He said it is meant to improve the clinical practice of reproductive health by organising teaching, training and workshops, developing and maintaining data registries, as well as implementing methods to improve safety and quality assurance in clinical and laboratory procedures. The theme of the confer-ence is "Recent Advances in As-sisted. Reproductive, Technology, (ART).
By: Rosemary Nwisi, Port Harcout
The Nation News
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