About 100,000 persons in Croatia are affected by infertility, annually fewer than 10,000 couples enter programmes of assisted reproductive treatments, and the ratio of infertile men and women is approximately fifty-fifty, according to the data presented at a recent conference held by the Roda NGO.

The conference was also informed that obesity and overweight are a more and more frequent cause of infertility among men.

The association says that a large difference between the number of affected persons and those who resort to Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) can be ascribed to insufficient information about possibilities for treatment and procedures and patients’ rights as well as social stereotypes about infertility.

So far in Croatia, approximately 40,000 children have been born by In vitro fertilization (IVF), said Bojana Santic fo the Roda association.

Causes of infertility

Santic recalls that there are several causes of infertility.

For instance, hormonal imbalances, weight, exposure to chemicals, radiation, or cigarette smoking, and a woman’s age all have an impact on fertility.

Concerning weight, Croatia tops the EU ranking in terms of obese and overweight people, she said about obesity being a more and more frequent cause of infertility.

17 centres for treatment in Croatia

Croatia has 17 centres for the treatment of infertility, and in terms of the number of such centres per capita, Croatia tops the ranking in the European Union.

A rate of success of Medically Assisted Reproduction (MAR) varies across the Croatian region, say activists of the Roda association.

Dinka Pavičić Baldani, a doctor from Zagreb, has told Hina that this difference is not big.

Nina Gelo, the head of the Clinical Embryology Department at University Hospital Centre Zagreb, has told Hina that over the last 10 years, there has been marked headway in the success of MAR.

Gelo also underscored that motherhood should not be postponed as the factor of age could not addressed by any method or treatment.

The IVF treatment is demanding physically and mentally, as evidenced by the fact that half of the couples in the EU that opt for IVF treatment, give up only after the first procedure, said Pavicic Baldani.