NEARLY 200 babies have been born through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in the past six years since the reintroduction of the programme in the country.
In vitro fertilisation is a procedure that involves fertilisation of a woman’s eggs with sperm outside her body, in a dish, in a laboratory.
After three to five days, one or two of the embryos that are beginning to form are placed in the woman’s womb, where they continue to develop normally.
The IVF programme was reintroduced in 2016 by a team led by Dr Tinovimba Mhlanga and has produced 197 live births so far and more are expected before the year ends.
Two of the 197 babies were born in the United States of America and five were born in England after their parents came to Zimbabwe and had successful IVF cycles.
With almost 500 treatment cycles having been performed, this gives an overall average success rate of 39 percent, which compares favourably with the success rate in other countries.
Dr Mhlanga pointed out, however, that the success rate varies with age.
“Women aged between 20 and 35 have the best chance of a successful outcome. Once you get to 40 years the success rate drops to 10 percent. At age 42 the odds diminish to five percent,.
The success rate in the United Kingdom in 2019, according to the United Kingdom Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, was over 30 percent for women under 35, just over 25 percent for women aged 35 to 37, just under 20 percent for those aged 38 to 39, just over 10 percent at between the ages of 40 and 42 and just below five percent for those aged 43 to 44.
The success rate rose steadily over the years to reach these levels.
Dr Mhlanga and his team operated at the IVF Zimbabwe Centre in Harare where they have ultrasound facilities, a pharmacy, general laboratory for chemistry, haematology and medical microbiology tests, operating theatre, recovery ward, the IVF Laboratory, maternity wards and labour ward.
“We have brought convenience to our patients. We are able to look after them and provide everything they need at the centre from the first consultation and tests to the birth of their baby.
“Because we are a specialist IVF centre, everyone here is trained to look after our sub-fertile patients with great care. This helps to destigmatise sub-fertility.”
Dr Mhlanga said the term infertility was not advisable, preferring to use sub-fertility as most people could become fertile with the help of modern medical procedures.
As with natural conception not every pregnancy results in a live birth, since miscarriages can happen with any pregnancy.
“The procedure can be used where a woman is unable to conceive naturally due to factors such as blocked or damaged fallopian tubes, endometriosis, ovulation disorders such as polycystic ovarian disease, premature ovarian failure, uterine fibroids, a genetic disorder or a male infertility factor such as low sperm count or abnormal sperm to mention only a few conditions,” Dr Mhlanga said.
A woman who is unable to produce sufficient good quality eggs could opt to have a donor’s eggs used. The centre is staffed by two gynaecologists, two embryologists and six nurses as well as other administrative and ancillary staff.
The IVF Laboratory is also equipped with the most modern technologically up-to-date equipment.
“In cases of abnormal semen parameters such as low sperm count, poor motility and abnormal sperms, the embryologist is able to inject one sperm into each egg to facilitate fertilisation with the aid of an Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) microscope and needle,” Mr Makurumure, the embryologist, said.
The IVF Zimbabwe Centre has successfully achieved babies from intra-uterine insemination (IUI), IVF, ICSI, donor gametes, surrogacy and sperm harvested by testicular sperm extraction. – The Herald
