Only women bear the brunt of infertility

When a couple cannot have children, the woman is usually blamed in Bangladesh. In our society, only woman is being generally considered responsible for child bearing and bears the brunt of being infertile irrespective of with whom the cause of infertility lies.
When women do not conceive, they get insulted from family and also are under immense pressure to seek medical help without considering the need of investigation of their male counterpart. Infertile women often receive disrespectful treatment by husbands, and the husbands’ families may encourage them to divorce or take a second wife. In more extreme cases, acts of violence are committed against them.
Recently Bangladesh Institute of Research for Promotion of Essential & Reproductive Health and Technologies (BIRPERHT) conducted study to assess the situation and treatment of the infertile couples in Bangladesh shows that majority women of the study received care from traditional healer then male due to maintain happiness in the family to protect family from familial conflict.
It is estimated that worldwide about 5% of infertile couples are infertile due to anatomical, genetic, endocrinological or immunological factors. The remainder suffers from involuntary infertility related to preventable conditions including: sexually transmitted, infectious and parasitic diseases; iatrogenic health care practices; exposure to potentially toxic substances in the diet or environment; and medical neglect of precursor conditions.
Successful programmes should be implemented about infertility for treatment at community level and community-based interventions to demystify the causes of infertility, so that people as well as infertile couples, know why infertility occurs in both men and women and where best to seek care. People and infertile couples in particular, should be provided with appropriate information regarding the causes of infertility that either of the partners could be responsible and it is important to investigate both.

The writer works at BIRPERHT.
E-mail: [email protected]