Okay, so the UK is a relatively small country and we can't necessarily support the number of events taking place annually in the U.S. However, there were 706,248 live births in 2009. More than 36,000 women have IVF in the UK each year. Around 1.5% of all births and 1.8% of all babies born in the UK are the result of IVF and donor insemination, according to the HFEA.
Both female and male infertility are on the rise. HFEA statistics are released a few years later, so I don't have figures for 2009, however, other government figures show that the number of live births in England and Wales in 2009 decreased for the first time in eight years, compared with 708,711 in 2008. This is the first fall in the annual number of live births since 2001. If you haven't heard about infertility in the news, you must be boycotting TV, radio, the web and print media, because it seems to be the topic on everyone's lips.
Unlike a situation in which you are ill and your doctor explains your condition on a need-to-know basis, infertility is an umbrella topic that requires affected people to acquire a huge amount of information. The difference is that people first have to fill in the gaps in their knowledge about how their reproductive systems are meant to work. This learning curve comes from our reticence to talk about our reproductive organs, our sex lives, procreation and our most fundamental yearning to have a child. Once people begin to learn the way it all works, they question why their own system isn't working the way it should. It can take a while for a general practitioner to respond to questions about infertility; many, it seems, sending their patients back to "try a little longer," or "relax and let it happen." Patients' frustrations then motivate the acquisition of more information, but their search is based upon guesswork.Once the investigations get rolling, there is more specific research to be done, to make sense of a possible diagnosis or treatment options offered.
Infertility patients who don't get answers they understand, like or can accept, will doggedly seek and consume every bit of information they can get in an effort to beat the odds on their chances of conceiving. There is a pervasive feeling in the UK infertility community, and perhaps everywhere, that infertile people have to be their own best advocate and expert, because otherwise the fertility-medicine and fertility-business communities will ignore you, let you down or fleece you. Not satisfied with laymens' terms, the self-made fertility expert wants to know a condition's or a procedure's Latin name and its acronym, letting medical jargon drip off their tongue with ease. That level of familiarity helps them feel in control when in a medical environment; it sees off intimidation and condescension, makes them feel a part of the process or the team and helps them make decisions.
Fundamentally, the fertility patient and her/his partner need to know:
- how their body should work,
- reasons why it may not be working as intended,
- the investigations that can lead to a diagnosis,
- how to get their doctor to take them seriously and refer them to a specialist,
- the options available for treatment (both traditional and alternative therapies),
- the risks, side effects, possible consequences and costs of undergoing each treatment,
- the success rates associated with certain treatments,
- success rates as applied to each fertility practitioner/clinic,
- the government regulations relating to various treatments,
- the emotional wear and tear of undergoing treatment,
- the impact on a child of being born through the use of assisted reproductive techniques and the legal aspect of the parent/child, donor/recipient and surrogate/adoptive parent relationships.
Where will they get this information? Trawling the internet, though vastly more efficient than the old-fashioned search through the stacks at the local library, is dangerous as potentially causing information overload about infertility. Sifting through the immense number of articles is time consuming. The best sources will bring information together in one place: a website like that of Infertility Network UK or a fertility event that attracts exhibitors, speakers and visitors from one end of the spectrum to the other; funded treatment, private treatment, natural and mild treatment options, more aggressive intervention, self-help and third party support.
The Fertility Show, which took place recently at Olympia in London, is the major fertility-related show in the UK; a new focal point for the annual calendar whether you are a patient, medical professional, complementary therapist or company selling products which support fertility, conception and pregnancy. It has filled a huge gap in the provision of essential information needed and demanded by the consumer. The question is, with such a great need, why is it virtually the only UK fertility event? The formerly fabulous, women's health event, which was largely fertility-related, held by the Wellbeing of Women, is endangered, having attracted less than 50 visitors this year.
What would you like to see offered? Would you support smaller fertility health events? Would it help if they were regional, as opposed to being centralized in London? Is the entry price an issue? What do you regard as crucial to a fertility event's success...seminars, check-ups, demonstrations, appointment times to see various exhibitors, prize draws...? Please email me directly with comments on this one, at [email protected].
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