Kenya's first ever test tube babies celebrated their 10th birthday two weeks ago.
The two girls were born at around 11am on May 8, 2006, at the private Avenue Hospital in Parklands, Nairobi.
Their mothers had received in-vitro fertilisation at the Nairobi IVF Clinic, owned by city gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Joshua Noreh.
This was the first successful IVF case in Kenya since the technology pioneered in 1978 in Britain.
At that time, the husband of one of the mothers, who had been waiting anxiously outside the operating theatre, told Dr Noreh: "I am ready to give you anything you ask for," the BBC reported.
His wife said they had struggled for a baby since 1996.
"This is the moment I have always waited for and for the first time in my life, I feel a great sense of relief and hope," she said.
That year opened the gates to hundreds of parents who struggled to conceive and could not pay Sh700,000 for the procedure in South Africa.
The clinic charges Sh300,000 for one IVF treatment when the egg and sperm are from the couple and an extra Sh90,000 if the sperm or egg is donated.
Today, more than 2,000 babies in Kenya have been born through this method.
And after the two babies' safe delivery in 2006, Dr Noreh commented: "By these deliveries, it's opening future treatment of infertile couples and also indicates we can do it locally."
In IVF treatment, eggs are taken from a woman and sperm from a man before they are fertilised in a laboratory. The resulting embryos are then transferred back to her uterus for pregnancy to take place.
The technique is usually used on women without eggs or with blocked or damaged Fallopian tube – the pipe through which the egg travels from the ovary to the uterus for implantation to take place – and men with poor sperm quality.
The Nairobi IVF Clinic now offers a wide range of Assisted Reproductive Technologies including IVF and ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection), egg and sperm donation, gestational surrogacy, embryo and sperm cryopresevation, intrauterine inseminations (IUI), ovulation induction and others.
"The Nairobi IVF Centre serves patients from all over the world and assists in arranging accommodation in Nairobi for the duration of treatment," says Dr Noreh.
The clinic reported that in 2014 alone, it helped deliver more than 400 babies through IVF.
It has now helped deliver more than 1,900 babies since 2006.
The national infertility prevalence in Kenya is estimated at around 11.9 per cent. One of the most elaborate studies on infertility resulted in the 2007 ministry of health report "Infertility in Kenya August 2007". It was sponsored by the government and UNFPA.
The study roughly defined infertility as the "inability to conceive after at least 12 months of unprotected intercourse".
It noted that male factors account for 20 per cent in all cases of infertility, female factors 38 per cent, causal factors identified in both: 27 per cent, and not satisfactorily attributed to either: 15 per cent.
"From this it is apparent that male related disorders of fertility, alone or in combination with female factors are present in up to approximately 34 per cent of childless couples, while in the female 51 per cent," says the study.
Infertility in Kenya is not just a medical issue. For many women, the inability to bear children is a tragedy and they carry the societal burden.
"In the discussion groups, participants mentioned derogatory terms by which infertile women were referred. In Kiswahili an infertile woman is referred to as tasa, Kikuyu- thaata, Luo- lur, Akamba- ngungu and Luhya- mkumba. It is important to note that all these terms were feminine and, therefore, do not make reference to men," says the report.
"The communities used various ways to insult and intimidate them, a constant reminder of their worthlessness."
Most societies are organised such that children are necessary for care and maintenance of older parents, an assurance of continuity of the family lineage. Childless couples may also be excluded from taking leading roles in important functions and events such as birthdays, christenings, confirmations and weddings.
The study says the leading cause of infertility in both sexes is the tubal factor due to infections, sexually transmitted infections and post-abortal sepsis being particularly common.
The World Health Organisation says the women unfairly carry the burden of infertility merely because pregnancy and child birth are manifested in the woman.
The organisation says the male reproductive capacity was found to be deficient in not less than 50 per cent of infertile couples.
"It is imperative that each case of infertility is considered clinically as a couple, or in case of social infertility or third part reproduction, with regard to the clinical evaluation of the source of gametes and the gestational carrier/mother," says the WHO's unit of sexual and reproductive health.
Medics say diagnosis of infertility issue is not as simple as it may appear.
They say it is important from the outset to identify the cause of the problem to determine for whom treatment is imperative, and for whom it is advisable.
"Something should be done for them (people with fertility challenges). They should fully enjoy parenthood," said Dr Noreh in a past interview.
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