FTSF Keeps Hope Alive For 10 Infertile Couples!

THE excitement was palpable, Saturday July 23, 2011 at the Banquet Hall of the Grand Hotel, Asaba Delta State on the occasion of this year's draws of the Fertility Treatment Support Foundation, FTSF, initiative.

The idea of organising a public draw in which 16 Nigerian couples across the Federation, would, over a two-year period, have opportunity to access series of free In-vitro Fertilisation, IVF, cycles under the FTSF initiative is novel.

The FTSF, formerly known as E.A.R.T (Expanded Access for Reproduction Techniques), was established as a result of the prevalence of infertility in society today.

From research, one out of every four couples or 25 percent of couples are fertility-challenged and would require one sort of intervention or the other. Hence, the appreciable demand of Assisted Reproductive Treatment, ART, solutions, such as the famed IVF.

Olive branch

But there are drawbacks to this olive branch, the greatest of which is, perhaps, the issue of cost. Affordability of treatment is one of the most common causes for concern of the fertility-challenged couples.

A regular IVF cycle in any standard fertility treatment facility costs an average of N650,000 to N1,000,000 depending on the clinic and profile of the case.



Mr and Mrs Okwudili

As a result, many couples desirous of conceiving their own babies have been denied the opportunity to have access to the initiative, due to their inability to afford the cost. Hence, to keep the dream of fertility-challenged couples alive, FTSF was born.

Implemented in partnership with Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos/Asaba, the FTSF has, for years, been committed to the goal of giving 16 lucky Nigerians completely free IVF treatment cycle over a space of two years.

The initiative was put together as a platform for enabling all fertility-challenged Nigerian couples, to have access to the best and most advanced assisted fertility treatment services in the world, at no cost.

Two specially selected couples who ultimately emerged from this raffle draw, will benefit from a full IVF or combination fertility treatment novel initiatives This translates into two Nigerians every quarter.

Ten couples are to be screened per quarter, out of which two would be chosen for the free IVF treatment. The Asaba event marked the second quarter of the on-going event

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