ECONOMIC STATUS OF INFERTILE COUPLES AND THE UTILIZATION OF ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY SERVICES IN NORTH CENTRAL ZONE OF NIGERIA

The purpose of this study was to assess economic status of infertile couples and the utilisation of assisted reproductive technology services in North Central Zone of Nigeria. To achieve this purpose, a sample size of 768 infertile couples representing 4% of the target population was randomly selected using a multi stage sampling procedure of stratified, purposive, simple and proportionate sampling techniques to get the sample size for the study. Data was collected using close ended questionnaire and 768 copies of the questionnaire were administered out of which 751 (97.4%) were duly completed and analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions. The results revealed that economic status was significant determinant for the utilization of ART services among infertile couples in North Central Zone of Nigeria. Based on the results of this study, the following recommendations were made to improve on the utilization of assisted reproductive technology services among infertile couples: Since majority of respondents experiencing infertility lamented the huge cost of procuring ART treatment, there is, therefore, the need to subsidize infertility treatment by Government through bulk purchase of drugs and other consumables so as to overcome the burden of the cost of accessing and receiving treatment by infertile couples. The health policies of private and public organizations can also redesigned its policies to cater for the needs of workers experiencing infertility problems. The mandate of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) should be expanded to address the needs of persons and couples seeking infertility treatment. Also, the participating NGOs and the private sector should also be encouraged to subsidize infertility treatment in order to ease the burden of receiving infertility treatment

Leave a Comment