An Obstetrician/Gynecologist and Managing Director of Nordica Fertility Centre, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, expressed concern about the decline in sperm parameter, while identifying environmental factors as part of the possible cause of male infertility.
A man is considered infertile when he is unable to impregnate a fertile woman after 12 months or more of regular unprotected intercourse.
Abayomi, who spoke virtually at the 10th anniversary of the Abuja Nordica Fertility Centre, noted that 40-60% of infertility cases are male-related, while identifying other possible causes of male infertility such as infection, surgery, trauma, etc.
He said: “Men are probably the biggest culprits of infertility. The male factor is increasing globally and the Nigerian is no exception. When we look at the sperm count 10 years apart, we noticed that there was a drop in the sperm count of the men we were treating 10 years later.
“There’s a part of the country where it’s probably worse; oil-producing areas. We did a study and we saw that male infertility is common in the Niger Delta due to environmental factors.
“Men are disappearing, but the good thing is that technology is helping. The only reversible cause is lifestyle issues.
Regarding treatment, Abayomi said that drugs are beneficial to very few men, adding that for the majority of men, drugs are mostly a waste of time. “So what we can do for them is in vitro fertilization (IVF),” he explained.
He said more than 3,500 children have been born through IVF at the Nordica Fertility Centre, noting that the infertility industry in the country has grown.
The fertility expert said there has been a lot of progress in the fertility industry. “You can get almost anything you want in the world when it comes to fertility in Nigeria. One of the things that will help us improve is to make sure there is control, regulation, so that we can reduce quackery, reduce unsubstantiated claims. This is one of the things that is still ubiquitous.
“We need a guideline, a framework in which we can practice the very good and noble act of our system design.”