The Association of Childless Couples of Ghana (ACCOG) over the weekend offered alternative solutions to couples with infertility problems and those without children, as way of mitigating psychological trauma associated with their situation.
Childless couples have the opportunity to adoption, In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF), embryo transfer, surrogacy, egg donation, though, experts admit those modern reproductive techniques might create a wide range of legal and ethical problems.
About 4,000 participants who participated in the first ever national conference on infertility/childlessness on Saturday in Kasoa in the Central Region heaved a sigh of relief for coming to terms with the Assisted Reproductive Technologies.
Nana Yaw Osei, Chief Executive Officer of ACCOG and a Fertility Counselor, said the cost for going through IVF had significantly been reduced from GH�9,000.00 per cycle, to about GH�500.00.
He said reduced rate was as a result of the work of ACCOG in collaboration with Belgian Scientists and Fertility Specialists, who have developed a low cost IVF method.
Professor Alexander Tawiah Odoi, Obstetrician Gynecologist, advised couples who want to have conception through natural ways, to engage in frequent sexual intercourse.
He said conception largely depended on �ages of couples and frequency of sexual intercourse.�
Professor Odoi also explained that the possibility of conception was 30 percent in males, 30 percent in females and another 30 in both males and females with the remaining 10 percent not explainable in medical sphere.
He said conception was by chance saying: �normal couples have 25 percent chance of conception a child.�
He said the major problem of infertility emanated from unconventional abortion, herbal enema and fibroid with blocking of fallopian tubes being common in Africa and ovulation difficulties in the United States of America.
He said stress and over-exercising posed danger to ovulation and called on couples to seek professional counseling for the right medications and actions to their challenges.
Mr Sampson Nii Trebi of Department of Social Welfare, said adoption was legally permissible to persons with integrity and are of a least 25 years or 21 years older than the child to be adopted.
He said couples and organizations were allowed to adopt children within the confines of the law and procedures laid down by the Department of Social Welfare to ensure the adopted child was safe and free from stigmatization.
The ACCOG is a faithless Non-Governmental Organisation established in July 2012 to provide a platform for childless couples to enjoy the benefits of marriage, while facilitating their access to other options of having children, including adoption and the use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies ARTs.
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