Affordable IVF fertility treatment and healthy babies for HIV positive couples
For couples struggling to have a baby, IVF or in vitro fertility treatment is a potential solution – but it is exorbitantly expensive and usually out of reach for most middle class people, never mind those in lower income groups.
Now, the Gynecology and Obstetrics unit at Tygerberg Hospital headed up by fertility specialist Dr Thabo Matsaseng is offering affordable IVF to couples.
In addition, he gives couples where one or both partners are HIV positive, a chance to have a healthy baby. With antiretroviral medication, HIV Aids is no longer a death sentence and couples have a long life ahead of them and like any one else they long for a baby. Dr Matsaseng helps them do this safely and effectively.
The dream to make the IVF accessible to all people, started when he was working in rural KZN, where about 40% of the patients were infertile. Most of them could not afford the services in private health care, and at the time they were not available in public health.
Listen to the full story reported by Barbara Friedman below
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