People
get married for different reasons. While some seek companionship in
marriage, many go into it for the purpose of procreation. For couples
who look forward to having children immediately after marriage, being
declared ‘infertile’ by experts is like a death sentence.
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 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.”
PUNCH
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 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 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
*********** 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 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.
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.”
Additional report by Gbenro Adeoye
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