The Ugandan government plans to build a public fertility hospital, the first facility of its kind in the entire East African region.
The hospital is expected to curb incidences of infertility in the country by cutting down the cost of treatment.
The centre is expected to improve access to safe and regulated fertility care in Sub-Saharan countries including Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Gambia, Ghana, Ethiopia and Cote d’Ivoire.
A recently released report by the World Population Data prepared by US-based Population Reference Bureau shows that Burundi tops East Africa in fertility rate of 5.5 or nearly six children for every woman, followed by Uganda (5.4), Tanzania (5.2), Ethiopia (4.6), Rwanda (4.2) and Kenya (3.9).
In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is the most common and most effective type of assisted reproductive technology to help women become pregnant. The method of treatment involves a man’s sperm and a woman’s eggs being combined outside the body, in a laboratory dish, and then implanted in a woman’s uterus.
In a private clinic in Uganda, one procedure costs about US$5000 US dollars. With the new facility however, that cost is expected to reduce to about US$1000.
