Emelia Naa Ayeley Aryee || Freelance Journalist
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) both males and females are responsible for 45% – 45% of infertility cases, while the remaining 10% is blamed on environmental factors.
Fertility experts everywhere agree that for women especially, age plays a very important role in preserving fertility, and Dr. Joseph Homiah of Accra Fertility Center cannot agree more to this.
At the 2024 Fertility Conference of Xoese Ghana, an NGO helping women with fertility issues in Ghana, he explained the pertinent issues surrounding women’s fertility and the age factor.
Age is important
Dr. Homiah underscored the fact that age is crucial especially for women who want to have babies. He noted that the more a woman grows in terms of age, her egg level, as well as fertility level dwindle and that is how nature or the creator has designed it to be.
When this happens, the chance to conceive as a woman becomes low and that is when assisted methods of conception would be needed.
Having practiced for over a decade and counting, the fertility expert said he had come across many female patients who want to have a baby in one year when they have already clocked 38 and entering 40.
He said many women nowadays are pursuing other interests that make them delay in having children. Some of them are bent on climbing higher the educational ladder that they put their fertility and childbirth on hold.
Others, he said, get married and put having babies on hold because according to them, “they want to have fun for two years and having children is not one of their priorities now and they do not want any disturbance of children”.
These, he lamented, is not a good practice because once the woman becomes desperate to have a child, their impatience and stress level tend to aggravate their situation making conception difficult, slow and nearly impossible.
Dr. Homiah admonished that while pursing higher education in itself is not a bad thing, women especially must create a healthy balance because anyone can go to school at any time, but not all women can have children when they are advanced in age.
Practically, it is ideal for these women to pause with their education at a point, focus on making babies and then continuing with school later.
Which age is most fertile and which is not?
Due to the natural diminishing of the ovarian reserve with age in women, adult females in general have a peak where they are most fertile, and a time when their fertility comes to virtually zero.
He said the most fertile period of every woman is between the ages of 20 to 24.
Between 25-29 is fertile. Then, by age 35, a woman has about 50% of her eggs depleted leaving her with 52% chance.
By age 40 to 44, the egg level is very low as is the fertility chance at 15%.
Between ages 45-49, a woman has just less than 5% chance of conceiving because the egg level becomes virtually zero.
By age 50, the egg level becomes completely zero, as presented in the table below:
Watch Dr. Homiah speak to the issue here:
Assisted methods
Today, there is scientific intervention so that women who want to have a child even after they have depleted their ovarian reserve are not left hopeless.
In vitro fertilitzation, often referred to as IVF, is one of the techniques used to help women who are facing various fertility issues, including diminished egg reserve, to conceive.
It is the most common of all assisted methods used also for those with issues with fallopian tube, such as tubal blockage or not tubes at all due to certain medical conditions.
Women are contemplating IVF are encouraged to prepare themselves emotionally, psychologically and financially.
Again, the women should indulge in moderate exercises, and eat healthily cutting down on fizzy drinks, meat, chicken, and junk foods.
