94% of Fertility Patients Never Receive Treatment

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 28 Jun 2004 - 14:00 PDT

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A review of global fertility care, completed for World Infertility Month (June), has revealed that 94% of the 90 million patients around the world with fertility problems never receive any kind of care for their condition. Today, the ESHRE Patient Leader Forum (EPLF) is announcing a landmark initiative to address this issue and provide the first-ever international patient standards for the care and support of patients seeking fertility treatment.

28th June 2004, Annual ESHRE* Conference, Berlin:

Sandra Dill, Co-ordinator of the ESHRE PLF and champion of the cause for global patient care standards in infertility said: "This figure of 94% of couples not receiving treatment for their fertility problems is totally unacceptable and we are determined that the Patient Care Standards we have announced today will be a major step in improving the situation."

An additional survey investigating why patients aren't receiving the care they need, identified poor awareness of fertility care and too much conflicting information as major barriers that stop patients from seeking help. Just under half of couples questioned said fertility care is presented as confusing and uninviting and 53% said that after researching their options they either felt no better informed or actually more confused than before they started.2

There is currently no agreed Patient Care Standard on basic issues concerning fertility care and no support structure to guide patients through the process - despite the fact that 81% of couples questioned in the survey agreed it would be a lifeline.2

The EPLF initiative to produce the first ever global Standards for fertility care will provide a clear guide for patients around the world on precisely what to expect from a fertility clinic. Further, the Patient Care Standards will explain how patients can interpret information they are provided and how to fairly compare options and institutions.

Issues covered by the patient care standards will include:

-- What are the treatment options available?

-- How long should you stay on a treatment?

-- How to interpret success rates

Sandra Dill explained the need for Patient Care Standards further: "Couples first investigating fertility treatment have limited knowledge of what is involved and what to look out for and they are quite naturally very confused and apprehensive. With no consistency of information or means of fairly comparing one institution to another - these people are left feeling vulnerable. The Patient Care Standards are a giant step forward in preventing that from happening and by default - raising the level of patient confidence in the standards of care offered in infertility, around the world."

The Patient Care Standards will be drafted and agreed by an independent panel - the Global InFertility Taskforce (GIFT) - comprising leading fertility experts and leading patient advocates, both recruited by the EPLF. The process of defining content and writing the new standards will start immediately after the ESHRE conference.

Dr Evers, one of the key supporters of this new initiative and past chairman of ESHRE said: "This a challenging and very worthwhile project that is long overdue, and I am delighted to be involved in helping make it happen. For the most part, and in most countries, the care offered to infertile couples is of the highest level - but there can be tremendous disparity between the facilities, technology and clinical expertise offered by different practices and this is not always made obvious to couples seeking help."

"A clearly defined benchmark of gold standard patient care in fertility treatment can only help ensure that patients are offered quality care wherever they seek treatment and make certain they recognise early on when they are not."

The epidemiological research announced today includes WHO estimates of 90 million couples globally who are unable to conceive within 1 year of regular, unprotected intercourse. Only about 15% of that number will take the next step of coming forward to seek help and sadly, a further 58% of those who do seek treatment, fall-out of therapy before receiving any help.1 Adding up to a massive 94% of couples who remain untreated.1

- ENDS - † 94% is the total figure for couples not seeking or receiving treatment in the developed world and couples not receiving or having access to treatment in the developing world. Even if the figures for the developing world are removed from the model it still shows that in the developed world there are still 74% of couples who do not seek or receive treatment.

ESHRE Patient Leader Forum is an exciting new initiative, which was created to strengthen the links between patient leaders around the world and the members of ESHRE. The EPLF provides a forum to discuss global patient and consumer needs and a place in the scientific community for patient leaders to feed back issues from their home country. It also provides opportunities for patient leaders and health care professionals to work in partnership and address anything that might threaten access to affordable, safe, health care.

For further information please contact the GIFT Secretariat and Press Office:

On site in Berlin:
Jeremy Clark +44 (0)7834 308954 or jeremy_clark@uk.cohnwolfe.com

London:
Lee Zimmer +44 (0)20 7331 5447 or lee_zimmer@uk.cohnwolfe.com
Lisa Nilsen +44 (0)20 7331 5338 or lisa_nilsen@uk.cohnwolfe.com

*ESHRE - European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology

1 Professor John A. Collins, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Global Epidemiological Fertility Model
2 'Barriers to infertility treatment' - LightSpeed Research, June 2004

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Carrie Rosenstone
Cohn & Wolfe Healthcare
30 Orange Street, London WC2H 7LZ
Tel: +44 (0)20 7331 5449
Fax: +44 (0)20 7331 9084

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