PROGRESS OF IVF

In the four decades since Louise’s birth, the number of babies born via IVF has steadily increased.

The latest statics put the number at about eight million worldwide although Dr Gillian Lockwood, a consultant at UK fertility centre IVI Midland, believes that’s “quite a conservative figure”.

“We know there’s a huge amount of IVF going on in China and India which isn’t necessarily reported or recorded,” she says.

Around 3 000 IVF babies are born annually In South Africa, says Dr Paul le Roux of the Cape Fertility Clinic.

The procedure involves harvesting an egg from a woman’s ovaries, fertilising it with sperm in a laboratory, and returning the embryo to the womb to develop naturally.

The success rate ranges from 30-50% globally and decreases dramatically with age.

“Age is a cruel master of your fertility, as eggs have an expiry date,” says Tertia Albertyn, owner of Nurture, said to be SA’s most successful egg-donor programme. “Patients over 40 have a much harder time trying to conceive.”

In SA the cost of IVF ranges between R52 000 and R63 000 and is usually done at a private clinic. The procedure isn’t covered by medical aid and most women need more than one attempt, Le Roux says.

IVF is a growing phenomenon in SA, mainly because women are waiting until later in life to have children, he adds. “There are also many women now electing to freeze their eggs when they don’t have a partner in order to preserve their future fertility.”