Couples turn to donated eggs to have babies

The number of women seeking eggs donated by other women to have children of their own is on the rise in Kenya, if the trend at the Nairobi IVF Centre is anything to go by.

From only two cases five years ago, the clinic records show that the number of women who have used donated eggs to help them get babies of their own was 800 by end of last year.

In the past two years, 410 of the women screened at the clinic did not have eggs at all, meaning they could only conceive using donated eggs.

This demand has forced the clinic to commence an egg donation programme to enable women willing to donate eggs to help fellow infertile women to do so.

The response seems to have been good with over 150 women donating eggs in a span of three years.

But not all women can donate eggs. Only those aged between 18 and 35 years and with good college education qualify to donate eggs.

Fertility experts argue that these are the ages that produce quality eggs, with a high success rate when used in the IVF process.

“The woman who wants to donate should be healthy, free from all diseases and sign an elaborate consent before doing so,” says Dr Olegs Tucs, a clinical embryologist.

The cost of screening the donor and any transport reimbursements are met by the recipient of the eggs.

Donation of eggs is a worldwide accepted phenomena where women donate eggs to help those who cannot produce their own or produce defective ones.

The woman who is donating the eggs does not know who will use them in what is referred to as anonymous egg donor programme.

While egg donation is largely free, there are cases where recipients give a small monetary incentive to the donors they have themselves chosen.

Donors are given transport reimbursement to enable them make several trips to the clinic as they go through the treatment and egg retrieval process.

But doctors prefer anonymous egg donors to avoid future complication where the donor might claim the baby.

When a couple decides to use donated eggs, the sperm that fertilizes it comes from the recipient’s male partner.

The resulting embryo is then transferred into the recipient’s womb for pregnancy to take place.

“The biggest challenge we have is when the recipient demands to see and interview the donor of the eggs.

“This is unethical especially if it is being done under anonymous donor programme,” says Dr Joshua Noreh.