Infertility Research

The objective of this research is to develop a plan for implementing a program for educating communities in developing African countries in regards to infertility. Numerous research on how infertility affects communities have been conducted. All reviewed literature used interviews to conduct their studies. These studies usually begin by discussing the value of children, causes for infertility and ways many infertile couples are trying to deal with infertility. What the researched literature also shows is that many infertile couples are casted out and insulted by family members and the communities they live in and in fact are denied basic rights because they are childless. However, conversations on how more understanding …show more content…
This led many to believe that their infertility is some sort of supernatural punishment. In fact, some people living in Nigeria for example, actually believe that a menstruation flow that was too thick or too thin is a cause for infertility or that the use of oral contraceptives, especially before ever conceiving could be cause for not being able to have a biological child (Kimani & Olenja, 2001). Adengo and Tebong explain that statistically, 40 to 50 percent of all infertility can be attributed to men and though the numbers are so incredibly high, in many developing countries women are mostly blamed when a couple cannot …show more content…
Many women in Kimani’s and Olenja’s (2001) focus groups spoke from instances that they were chased out of their husband’s houses by their in-laws when it became apparent that they were not able to conceive. Many women were even physically and emotionally abused by their own family members and neighbors. While it is not unusual in African communities for random adults to discipline other people’s children when they see those children misbehave, perceived infertile people have no such right as they are seen as inexperienced. As previously mentioned, men can be the cause of infertility just as much as women, but once it becomes obvious that the man is the cause, some communities arrange for the women to have relations with a close family member such as a brother in-law in order to conceive, but of course this is kept a secret. While conducting research it became painfully apparent that no matter what, at the end, fault was almost always placed on the women (Kamani & Olenja 2001). The only times men were actually “punished” for not being able to father children is when it came to be selected for a leadership role. Because they were childless, these men were often overlooked. Again, the reasoning being that by only having a child a man could be truly called a man (Tebong,