A “staggering” one in six people now suffer infertility issues, the World Health Organization (WHO) has admitted.
“Globally, an estimated one out of every six people are affected by the inability to have a child at some point in their life,” confirmed Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the controversial director-general of the United Nations agency, in the foreword to its new report on infertility.
Dr. Pascale Allotey, director of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research Department at the WHO, called the figure “staggering” and declared infertility “a major and a widespread health issue”.
The WHO found the issue is somewhat more prevalent in so-called high-income countries, at 17.8 per cent, than in low- and middle-income countries, at 16.5 per cent.
Tedros offered few comments on the underlying causes of the crisis, describing them in vague terms as “varied and often complex” before moving on to pet issues of dubious relevance such as the agency’s “health and gender equality targets” – but the findings come as men appear to be suffering alarming drops in sperm counts and testosterone levels.