When making a child becomes an ordeal. In a report published on Tuesday April 4, the World Health Organization (WHO) warns of the extent of infertility in the world: more than one in six adults is a victim. To obtain such results, hundreds of studies on the issue, published since the 1990s, were analyzed.
If it does not make the headlines, this pathology deserves to be taken head-on by the various health authorities, says the WHO in a press release. Infertility “can lead to major distress, stigma and financial hardship, affecting the mental and psychosocial well-being of those affected”, recalls the organization.
The significant number of people who are victims of it in the world “shows the need to expand access to care […] and to ensure that this issue is no longer sidelined in health research and policy,” insisted Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO.
In all regions of the world
The international organization highlights that if infertility strikes “without discrimination” in all regions, disadvantaged areas suffer the most. “Millions of people face catastrophic health costs after seeking infertility treatment,” said Dr Pascale Allotey, Director of Sexual and Reproductive Health at WHO.
Last November, a study published in the scientific journal Human Reproduction Update, covering hundreds of articles, also showed that sperm quality has dropped over the past 40 years. The number of sperm present in the seminal fluid was halved during this time. A decline that “continues in the 21st century at an accelerated pace”, noted the authors of the study.
Asked about this fertility crisis, Professor Jean-Marc Ayoubi, head of the obstetrics gynecology and reproductive medicine department at the Foch hospital in Suresnes, estimated in our columns that the question was on the way to becoming “an issue of major public health”. “We have a few decades ahead of us to turn the tide,” he warned. At stake: nothing less than the “preservation of the human species”.
Avoid pollutants, banish drugs
In February 2022, a report on the causes of infertility was submitted to the Ministry of Health as part of the debates around the bioethics law. In particular, he denounced the effects of numerous pollutants (bisphenols, phthalates, parabens, glycol ethers, perfluorinated compounds, etc.) found in the bodily fluids of most humans on the planet.
Another scourge: poor health and drug use also contribute to impaired fertility. Finally, endometriosis, certain cancers and chronic diseases, certain genetic factors are also involved in this process. In France, 3.3 million people are affected by the disease.
Among the avenues envisaged by the rapporteurs of this report to reverse the trend: the creation of a “National Fertility Institute” on the model of the National Cancer Institute, to coordinate research and prevention, in particular for men. According to specialists, this category of population is “insufficiently informed about their own fertility and that of their partner”.