What causes infertility?

About one in four couples are said to experience delay in achieving conception in the country. This causes heartaches for couples and their families. Both men and women suffer from fertility problems. According to Prof.  Patrick H. Daru of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, studies have shown […]

About one in four couples are said to experience delay in achieving conception in the country. This causes heartaches for couples and their families. Both men and women suffer from fertility problems.

According to Prof.  Patrick H. Daru of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Jos Teaching Hospital, Plateau State, studies have shown that “40% of infertility in couples are traceable to men.  Another 40% is from  women while the remaining 20% is from the both men and women.”

He said that over 50% of the women who visit the gynecology clinic of his hospital come because of infertility. 

The gynecologist said infertility means the inability of a couple to achieve pregnancy after one year of living together  as husband and wife.

Women who are also advanced in age could also determine their status before a year, he said.

Professor Daru said there were many causes of infertility, one of  which were sexually transmitted diseases which have not been properly treated in the past. 

“Most times poor treatment of sexually transmitted diseases lead to tubal blockade. The other cause of infertility that is very common in this part of the world is previous infections that followed termination of pregnancy. Even after delivery, and a woman gets infections that are not properly treated, it causes infertility,” he said.

The gynecologist said fibroid also significantly contributes to infertility in women, adding that Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence rate of fibroids in the world. 

According to him, fibroids tend to develop because generally many women go to school and delay getting pregnant for the first time, and also as a result of spacing children too widely.

“Women today get their first pregnancy much later than it was 20 or 30 years back; and apart from going to school and pursuing of career before getting married, other factors like not quickly getting the right partner counts,” said Prof. Daru.

For infertility in men, previous poor or improper treatment of sexually transmitted diseases is traceable to the decline in the quality and quantity of sperm in a man. 

He said anti inflammatory drugs like paracetamol, ibuprofen, tramadol, among others that men take also contribute because they suppress sperm production. Steroids either by self medication or prescription also cause infertility in men.

In addition, he said the kind of job a man does could cause infertility. 

 “For instance, a long distance driver, especially those that drive trucks, more often than not sit on top of the car engine and this is not good for them. The engine of the truck is directly under the seat and the heat emanating from the engine can reduce the sperm quality and quantity. That is why it is not advisable for men, especially those that have infertility problem, to be sitting near where a car engine is,” Prof Daru said.

The medical expert said wearing of tight pants by men increases the temperature and could lead to infertility in a man. 

He said when couples experience delay in conception, they should not begin treating themselves, but go to an expert to evaluate them and find out the reason for their inability to conceive. 

“There are so many ways of managing it now; from simple education of when to have sexual intercourse to be able to get pregnant to giving drugs that will facilitate pregnancy process and to conducting surgery where necessary. 

“There are others like In vitro fertilisation (IVF) and embryo transfer. IVF has tremendously helped in achieving pregnancy for couples who hitherto wouldn’t have been able to have babies at all,” he said.

Professor Daru called on government to include IVF in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to ease the financial cost on couples.