The UAE witnesses a concerning increase in infertility, doctors told Arabian Business, as IVF clinics across the country see an enormous surge in male and female patients seeking treatment for low sperm counts and ovarian reserves.
“Infertility is rising in the UAE as more couples request assisted conception treatment,” said CEO and founder of NOW-fertility, Luciano Nardo.
The Middle East’s infertility rate is estimated to be around 15 percent split across both men and women, a relatively high regional rate when compared to the 10 percent infertility rate around the rest of the world, according to recent research.
The World Health Organisation found that one in six people worldwide are affected by infertility in 2023, accounting for over 17 percent of the world’s adult population, indicating that it is a major global health challenge.
According to Nardo, the main causes of infertility and the reasons why most couples are turning to IVF treatment in the UAE include: lack of exposure to sunlight which leads to vitamin D deficiency, obesity, smoking, drinking, bad diet, and late marriages.
Recent estimates suggest that one in six UAE couples face difficulties conceiving, and the country’s overall fertility rate has significantly declined from 2.7 births per woman in 2000 to 1.5 births per woman in 2020.
Dubai-based Orchid IVF Clinic has seen a noticeable increase in the number of couples visiting the clinic to seek out fertility advice and treatment, the clinic’s Medical Director Dr. Dimitrios Kafetzis told Arabian Business.
“Fertility rates are actually slowly decreasing,” said Kafetzis.
“This is both due to male and female factor fertility issues,” he added, highlighting that there are various contributing factors, ranging from low sperm parameters and diminishing ovarian reserves to polycystic ovaries.
‘Career comes first’
But the “main issue,” Kafetzis said, is that adults are now deferring the creation of their own families for later in their lives.
“Society and the existing standards lead us to believe that career comes first. But we should educate teenagers that the best age to have children – both from the parents’ health and the health of the offspring – is in the 20s, ideally the early 20s [because] that’s when eggs, sperm and uterus as well as the female body that will carry the pregnancy is at its prime.”
The medical director and IVF specialist also told Arabian Business that couples need to be educated on the “detrimental effects of smoking and alcohol on the quality of the eggs and sperms,” adding that there is a rising number of men who are facing infertility issues due to taking hormones in the gym to enhance their physical appearance.
UAE fertility treatments
Facebook group IVF Support UAE has also seen a steady surge in members over the past few years, said its founder Cassie Destino, with over 4,000 women.
“Infertility can be such a difficult and heartbreaking experience but there are lots of options available. New advancements are being made all the time and conditions that once would have meant a baby was not possible can now be successfully treated,” she said.
Destino, who is also a fertility Doula (a non-medical professional who specialises in fertility support on the educational and emotional side), told Arabian Business that many UAE-based expats have found themselves facing infertility in recent years. However, as infertility treatments have improved more and more with time, more couples have turned to them to help create their families.
To cater to this need, specialised clinics in the UAE have been working on the cutting edge of what is available and keeping up with the latest medical advancements in the field to provide the best possible treatment, she explained.
“This is a wonderful place to seek fertility treatment because you have access to the best of the best when it comes to the doctor and clinic staff knowledge base,” Destino said.
“One thing that women may consider to help preserve their fertility is freezing their eggs while they are young and healthy. This acts as an insurance policy if they seek to achieve a pregnancy later in life.
“If you have any concern about your fertility and your ability to achieve a pregnancy then you should go to a fertility specialist as soon as possible.”
Following recent legal reforms in 2021 that now permit the freezing of human embryos and eggs, more women in the Emirates are opting to freeze their eggs for various reasons.
The law stipulates that human embryos can be frozen for up to five years, extendable with the consent of relevant parties and that single women can freeze their eggs provided they are used for their own pregnancy after marriage with their husband’s sperm in an IVF procedure. However, surrogacy as well as egg and sperm donations remain illegal in the UAE.
“In places like the UAE, women are focusing on higher education, building their careers, and taking time to explore personal aspirations such as finding the right partner and traveling,” said Majd Abu Zant, Co-Founder of Ovasave.
“However, while they’re doing all this amazing stuff, it’s important to acknowledge that fertility starts to decline as they enter their thirties. That’s where egg freezing comes to play. By freezing their eggs at a younger age when they’re in good health, women are not only taking control of their reproductive future, they are also alleviating the stress associated with the ticking biological clock.”
UAE a hub for fertility tourism
As the UAE continues to adopt the latest fertility treatments, it is rising to become a “hub for fertility tourism,” said NOW-fertility’s founder Nardo.
“The growth in the fertility and IVF sector in the UAE is not only linked with fertility problems, but also driven by trends across the modern society and the demand for services like IVF with genetic testing for sex selection (family balancing) which is not available in other countries,” he said.
“The availability of treatment options with high standards, renowned professionals and advanced technologies in UAE centres are creating IVF tourism.”
IVF is now a global multibillion-dollar industry and is estimated to grow to over $17 billion in 2023 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4 percent.
Treatment costs in the Emirates range from $10,000 to $15,000 per cycle.
Follow us on
