Educate and warn the population about the factors that affect the possibility of being parents and inform about the most modern and current solutions aimed at those who have limitations or wish to become parents at the time they consider are the keys “for our society to survive in the time,” indicated Dr. Aníbal Scarella Chamy, president of the Chilean Society of Reproductive Medicine (Socmer).
The scientific organization that, together with Ferring andpoderfertilidad.cl, promotes a campaign in June, the month dedicated to fertility through the symbolic orange ribbon.
“The above becomes urgent since the fall in fertility is a global phenomenon that generates enormous implications for public health, and also demographic, social and economic,” maintains the professional.
According to statistics from the INE, today in Chile the birth rate is only 1.3 children per woman, which places us among the lowest rates in Latin America and the world. This is transversal to all socioeconomic groups, different variables participate, such as the fact that 300 or 400 thousand Chileans are infertile and the tendency to postpone motherhood.
In this regard, Dr. Scarella points out that there are “public enemies” that threaten the fertility of couples and against whom we must take care, being exposure to toxins such as cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and certain chemical compounds present in the body. environment.
At the same time, stress and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) have registered a high increase.
Others are obesity and a sedentary lifestyle that increases progressively in men and women, especially in the younger population and, probably, the most important: the age of the woman.
“The average first child two decades ago was 24 years old and today it is over 30,” says the president of Socmer, explaining that female fertility is “biologically designed” to achieve a pregnancy between 18 and 30 years old.
Reproductive health education is urgently needed
“If the population – he affirms – does not become aware of this reality, both in Chile and in the world, it is projected that by the year 2064 more people will die than are born, with all the problems that this would entail socio-demographically” .
Given this reality, it becomes urgent to educate people starting from the school level. “Just as we learn mathematics, history and other subjects, we should have sexual education incorporated into the curriculum that involves not only safe sex or the use of condoms, but also all the care that men and women should take in their reproductive health,” he says. .
In the case of couples who postpone having children for personal, economic or work reasons, Dr. Scarella points out that there should be public policies that ensure equal access in the health system to the progressive measurement of their fertility and, on the other hand, to the most important solutions available to medicine, such as egg preservation and assisted reproduction techniques, which “although they have a significant cost, they will be much lower than the socio-demographic problems that we are going to have more in 20 years.”
Preserving eggs is a life investment
Regarding the storage of eggs for future use, Joaquín Errázuriz, secretary of Socmer and doctor at Clínica Alemana, points out that this preservation has gained significant importance in Chilean reproductive medicine, since in addition to postponing motherhood, it is useful for women who must undergo medical treatments that may affect their fertility, such as chemo and radiotherapy; as well as for women at risk of infertility due to endometriosis or ovarian failure.
“This technique, which consists of freezing mature eggs through a process called vitrification, to store them in liquid nitrogen tanks at very low temperatures until the woman decides to use them, has grown significantly in our country due to technological advances, the increase in clinics specialized services, first-line professional support and growing demand from users,” explains the specialist.
On the other hand, and in terms of assisted reproduction techniques, Dr. Abril Salinas, vice president of Socmer and president of the Chilean Institute of Reproductive Medicine (Icmer), explains that there are low complexity techniques (ovulation induction and intrauterine insemination) and of high complexity such as in vitro fertilization with ICSI (intracytoplasmic microinjection that consists of introducing a live sperm into the egg).
“There are also techniques that are added to the in vitro fertilization treatment, such as the endometrial receptivity study, which consists of taking a biopsy of the endometrium to be able to see how the implantation window is, which is the specific moment in which the endometrium is receptive to receive the embryo and be able to see, based on this, the most favorable moment to transfer the embryo,” says the obstetrician-gynecologist.
They call for expanding fertility treatments in the health system
Within the framework of International Fertility Care Month, deputies from different groups and the Chilean Society of Reproductive Medicine asked the authorities to implement solid programs for reproductive health and expand the coverage of fertility treatments in the health system.
“We are calling for education, to raise awareness and make visible this issue that is so important. In our country, fewer children are born every day, the population is aging,” said representative Camila Flores.
He also pointed out that currently “one in eight people in our country suffers from infertility and, therefore, cannot be parents. This is a very big topic. In a few more years this figure will be even higher, if measures are not taken from the point of view of the State, public and national policies, to reverse this situation. And the infertility situation will affect one in three people in our country.”
For his part, Dr. Scarella emphasized the need for urgent measures to reverse the low birth rate. “Our country has a birth rate of 1.3 children per woman, when the population turnover rate stabilizes at 2. That is, we have a social problem, a political problem, a serious economic problem that we have to reverse,” he commented.
The specialist called on political authorities and civil society to take the problem seriously, stating that “we have a million people in our country who have infertility and who, for economic or access reasons, cannot access reproductive therapies. that others can do it. In this way, doing social justice, gender equality, we call on the authority to support the measures to reverse this trend that is so important for our country.”
Along the same lines, Luz María Lira, executive director of the Fënn Foundation, pointed out that “every day we work to inform, to prevent and to accompany all those who live with infertility, a solitary disease about which there are many myths and which we suffer much more than you think. This is a health problem, it is a rights problem and it is a social justice problem, we believe that it is important to treat it, prevent it and try to reverse it.”
For this reason, the parliamentarian of the Women, Equity and Gender Commission, Carla Morales, stressed that “reproductive health is a right that must be guaranteed in public health. “There are many women today who have to walk long distances to be able to be mothers, especially in the rural world where many do not have access to health care.”
The same opinion was shared by representative Yovana Ahumada, who stated that “we need to support public policies so that those 17% of people who suffer from infertility have the options, guarantees and that the State supports them. Here there is not only an issue of physical health or fertility, but there is also exhaustion, mental exhaustion, because, unfortunately, parents who want to have children suffer during this entire process.”
Meanwhile, parliamentarian Catalina del Real highlighted that “we are in Congress promoting public policies so that all Chileans can access treatments and become parents. “We have men and women who want to be parents and we are finally going to achieve it.”
The Chilean Society of Reproductive Medicine began the #elfuturoestaentusmanos campaign, which seeks to make this issue visible and raise awareness among the population.
