Saturday 23 August 2008

Washington Post Examines Effect Of Fertility Treatments On African Women

�The Washington Post on Thursday examined the gist that prolificacy treatments in Africa are having on a growing number of middle family women world Health Organization are shunned by smart set because of their infertility. According to the Post, the stigma of infertility on the continent a great deal forces women into closing off, and it is "so severe that it a great deal drives women -- and men -- to suicide."

In the past few years, several fertility clinics have opened across Africa, including in Kenya and Uganda. The Post reports that the clinics offer an alternative to superstitious explanations of infertility and "dubious" advice from some traditional healers. Fertility physicians also ar revealing an "uncomfortable verity about a condition about always blasted on women: that at least half the time, the problem is with the man."

Annie Akatabaazi, wHO helps run a clinic in Uganda that treats thousands of women per annum, said, "The number of clients is going up by the day. Some ask to come at night, so they'll not be seen. Some call whispering. Sometimes they don't want to give you their name. They come saying, 'My husband is going to leave me if I don't hold children.' And the men, erst they notice out, they come every day. If they bear an appointment at 9 a.m., they picture up at 8" a.m.

According to the Post, the "deeply entrenched" culture of large families in Africa is related to economics. Children interpret financial security, particularly in societies that do not receive assistance from governments, the Post reports. Children are expected to provide for their parents when they get older, and they often protect women against a divorce system that typically grants prop to men. "In the African common sense, children ar an investment," Robinah Kaitiritimba -- a health guardianship advocate in Kampala, Uganda -- said.

The Post as well profiled Betty Apio, a Ugandan woman who has been unable to have children because of a botched abortion (McCrummen, Washington Post, 8/14).


Reprinted with kind permission from hTTP://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can scene the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email pitch here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a absolve service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.


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