Reproductive health: who is to blame for infertility

Remember, in folk tales, the heroes are often a couple of husband and wife who did not have children. Even in those early days, it was considered a tragedy. And since ancient times, a woman was usually considered guilty of this. For example, according to the Indian laws of Manu, which generally forbade divorce, a husband could take another wife if there were no children in the marriage.

Now, infertile marriage is an important problem on a global scale. What is infertility for a couple? This is the inability to conceive with regular sex during the year.

According to WHO, over the past 50 years, there has been a clear progressive trend towards a decline in the birth rate from 33.3 percent to 16.4-12.3 percent. Statistics show that if in the 70s the number of infertile couples in the world was about 5 percent, at the moment this figure is approaching 15 percent.

Leaving aside the ethical side of the question and not talking about "guilt", let's say that even the same 50 years ago, in 8-9 cases out of ten, the problem of a infertile couple was really on the side of the woman. As a rule, it was about anatomical disorders and diseases of the genitourinary sphere-infectious and inflammatory.

But now the roles are even. Men have almost caught up with women: according to all studies, the contribution of men to infertility of couples is from 40 to 50 percent and continues to grow.

What is the reason for this? First of all, with the fact that men are much more likely than women to smoke and drink more alcohol. Both factors greatly affect the quality of sperm. In addition, the fertility of men is affected by diseases suffered in childhood (mumps, rubella), taking anabolic steroids, sexually transmitted diseases. The last point means that the sharp decline in male fertility in the whole world is associated with the spread of promiscuous sexual relations, especially in youth and the inability to use condoms.

Therefore, in our time, in the case of infertility of a couple, both a woman and a man should be examined. In addition, if a man wants to maintain his fertility, he needs to think about a healthy lifestyle and a permanent sexual partner from his youth.