People get married for different reasons. While some seek
companionship in marriage, many go into marriage for procreation. For couples who look forward to having
children immediately after marriage, being declared ‘infertile’ by experts is
like a death sentence.
While it is generally agreed that it takes two to have a
baby and every couple is expected to be in optimum health to have babies,
medical experts claim men are having more fertility challenge now. Sperm concentration in men is said to have decreased
by a third since 1990s while sperm count is said to have decreased by half over
the past 50 years.
Studies are also
showing genetic abnormalities in sperm particularly in older men. For men
therefore, quantity, quality and motility of spermatozoa are seen as important
factors in fertility.
Since the male factor
is a prominent cause of infertility in couples, sperm donation has become vital
in assisted conception treatment.
A study by the Society for the Study of Male Reproduction
stated that “a male factor is solely responsible in about 20 per cent of
infertile couples and contributory in another 30 to 40 per cent.”
According to experts, even when sperm numbers are great, a
high proportion of men may have DNA damage that significantly impairs the chances
of natural conception. Besides, male sperm deteriorates with age the same way
it does for women.
Studies have also shown that if a man has poor health,
smokes, drinks too much or has a bad diet, it’s very likely his sperms are also
going to be unhealthy.
Indeed, investigation by Saturday PUNCH showed that sperm
has become a commodity in high demand in Lagos. The Chief Consultant and Head,
Obstetrician and Fertility Department, Eko Hospitals, Dr. Adegbite Ogunmokun,
said fertility problem, based on recent experience, had tilted more towards the
male factor.
He said, “If 10 couples come in, there will be problem with
the male in six of them, using our parameter of 20 million sperm per
millimetre. But 10 to 15 years ago, maybe about four out of 10 men would have
problem.”
Our correspondents,
who visited some fertility centres in Lagos, learnt that more men are having
low sperm count, thus necessitating the need for more volunteer donors. But
because donors are scare, fertility clinics offer as much as N50,000 about £200
to men who are interested in selling their sperm.
They also pay more when sellers have special features that
the beneficiaries are looking for.
Like blood sellers, investigations show that many people in
Lagos, especially students, now sell their sperms anytime they need money.
A student of the University of Lagos, who identified himself
as John, said he had sold sperm to a few fertility centres in Lagos. John said
he had been funding his education for the past two years with what he earned
from selling his sperm.
John said he was introduced to the programme by a friend and
that he had in turn brought in two other friends to ‘business’.
“I’ve sold to a number of fertility centres. The money has
really helped me to stay in school. It takes care of my tuition and some other
personal needs,” John said, with a measure of satisfaction.
“It’s cool money, really and I’m also doing a service to
mankind by helping out some people in need. Even friends that I introduced to
it have not turned back since then.”
An employee in a Lagos fertility clinic, who identified
himself as Olufunsho, told Saturday PUNCH that some women would pay any amount
to get a sperm seller with the features they want.
He said, “We pay N50,000 here but there are times when women
come in and request that, at all cost, they must get a tall man. The person can
earn more when they make such requests, especially if we don’t have any that
fits the profile in our bank.
“There was a time a woman came and requested that we get a
tall man for her at all cost. I showed her the samples we had, but she did not
like the profile. She said she was not satisfied with the heights. And we were
unable to get what she wanted from the sellers that came at the time.
“The sellers that came then were either AS, or positive with
hepatitis B or had low sperm count. We had up to twelve sellers that came and
we were unable to get anybody. In such cases, we could offer a lot more when we
find the right person. Sometimes, such people are also in a position to
negotiate for what they want.”
However, subsequent drops attract lesser amounts of money
for the same seller.
To sell sperm, the
person, according to Olufunsho, must stay off sex for five days. He undergoes
some tests to confirm that he is not HIV positive and that he also has healthy
sperm among others.
He said, “If the same person is still interested and we
still need him, he would repeat the screening process again. We pay N10, 000
per ejaculation for other subsequent ones. With my own discretion, if the
quality of the sperm is good and we have somebody who needs something that
matches perfectly with that seller, we may reduce the probation period, but the
sperm must be very good.
“Although that is the protocol, it could always be amended
when there is nothing wrong with the person. Even if someone ejaculates the
first time and in twenty minutes time, he does the same, it is still going to
be good, but not as good as the first one.”
At the various fertility centres where our correspondents
posed as potential sperm seller, the clinic workers made keen attempts to have
them start the process immediately, by leaving blood samples for tests.
On one occasion, a clinic worker told one of our
correspondents that he was willing to waive the two to five days’ probation
period of abstinence, after our correspondent said he wished to “sleep over
it.”
The worker said, “What is there to think about? After all,
you already said you’re not married. You can leave your blood sample for
testing while you go ahead and think over it.”
Investigation showed that fertility centres want sellers
between 18 and 45 years of age and expect them to abstain from sex, two to five
days before giving sperm sample, depending on the centre.
Other conditions to be met by potential sperm sellers
include testing negative to HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C, sickle cell and
some other sexually transmitted diseases. Tests are also carried out to
determine the count, morphology (shape) and motility of the sperm cells.
In addition, fertility centres claim to also place a high
premium on average intelligence, education and lifestyle. Although, Saturday
PUNCH learnt that such claims are not always true as more emphases are actually
placed on height and other physical attributes.
“It is not immediately that we pay. We prefer AA genotype
because it can be given to anybody, unlike AS that cannot be given to just
anybody,” Olufunsho added.
However, an employee in another fertility clinic in Lagos,
Akin, said sperm sellers could get paid within a week of starting the process.
This is possible only if they satisfy the conditions.
He said, “If the motility is good, the count is good and
you’re okay, then, you can produce for us. If everything is okay, within a
week, you can get your money.”
A 2012 study into the reproductive health of 26,600 men in
France, warned of a sperm crisis worldwide. It said that sperm concentration
has decreased by a third since the 1990s. The study found a continuous 32.2 per
cent decrease in sperm concentration over a period of 17 years.
During the European Society of Human Reproduction and
Embryology annual conference in London in July 2013, some experts, critical of
the study’s validity, said it did not completely represent the situation in
certain areas, particularly the developing world.
However, a fertility expert at Mother’s World Care, Ikeja,
Lagos, Dr. Margaret Olusegun, said the situation is similar in Nigeria.
She said, “A man should have a good count, up to 40 to 50
million sperm per millimetre of semen upward. But you find that these days, men
have more challenges with fertility than women.
“Although, I don’t have the statistics, men are the ones
with more challenges now, even though they are the ones who drive out their
wives if they can’t bear children.”
Olusegun explained that good sperm should have “at least 50
per cent motility (activeness) because sperm cells can be active, sluggish or
dead.”
“For morphology (shape) too, which could be normal or
abnormal, sperm should have upward of 50 per cent normal cells. And there
should not be bacteria growth,” she added.
Ogunmokun described low concentration of sperm as
“Oligospermia.” He, however, said a sperm count with a minimum lower limit of
20 million sperm per millimetre of semen would still be considered normal. But
he added that any sperm concentration of less than 20 million per millimetre of
semen could be categorised as mild, moderate or severe oligospermia, depending
on the count.
Ogunmokun said fertility problems could be with the man, the
woman or the two of them.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the demand for sperm has made the
fertility business a lucrative one. Many of the fertility centres in Lagos have
facilities for sperm preservation, where it’s freezing costs about N50, 000 per
quarter.
Ogunmokun said,
“After collection, the semen is processed and seminal fluid and all other
things are removed. The sperm is put in little bottles and placed in special
containers called dewars, connected to a power source. It is stored at very low
temperature and there must be an indicator for monitoring should there be a
change in the condition.”
He, however, added that there must be a standby generator in
a place like Nigeria, where power supply is unstable, as sperm can be frozen
for decades.
“Although, there are many other reasons why people freeze
sperm, someone living far away from his wife can decide to freeze his sperm for
the wife’s use while he’s away. Also, someone going for cancer treatment can
freeze his sperm before starting the treatment since such treatments affect sperm
production,” he added.
Ogunmokun said
fertility centres focus more on university undergraduates to ensure that sperm
donors have a certain degree of intelligence.
He said, “The current
practice is to actually recruit sperm donors and the focus is on undergraduates.
The focus is on students because they should be able to provide their ID cards
so that background checks can be done.”
According to
Ogunmokun, the perceived increase in the number of men with low sperm count is
as a result of infection and lifestyle habits like sitting for too long and
wearing of tight underwear.
He said, “The testes
are not supposed to be too close to the body because of the higher body
temperature. The testes are naturally colder, so people who travel long
distances or sit in traffic for long can be prone to infertility.”
Ogunmokun advised that men should “exercise appropriately,
take good nutrition, avoid tight underwear, premarital sex, cigarette and
alcohol to try to prevent low sperm count.”
However, Olusegun
identified good hygiene as key to the prevention of low sperm count, saying,
“Our environment is too contaminated.”
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