VietNamNet Bridge - Viet Nam's infertility rate for both men and women is 8 per cent, much lower than that in European countries where it is from 13 to 15 per cent and occasionally as high as 20 per cent.

However, Nguyen Bich Van, deputy head of the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology's infertility ward in Ha Noi, said that the infertility rate in Viet Nam had fallen in the last few years. In 2007, the rate was a high 13 per cent.

Van said that late marriages – and therefore births – were one of the main causes of infertility in women.

Nguyen Viet Tien, Deputy Health Minister and director of the hospital, said the figures were revealed in the latest national research into fertility.

He said that a decade or so ago, most women had their first child when they were in their twenties. Now many women marry later, and will often have their first child in their mid-thirties.

Van said that infertility in men was often related to low sperm quality. "This can be affected by the habit of drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes or even tight fitting under clothing which raised the temperature in the genital areas.

Men, she said, could also be affected by blockages in the seminal duct, benign growth in the prostate gland and testicle inflammation.

In addition to treatment at provincial reproduction-support centres, the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in Ha Noi and Tu Du Hospital in HCM City provide fertility counselling and treatment for women.

And at least 30 to 35 per cent of infertility treatments are successful. The most common methods for treating infertility in women are artificial fertilisation and in – vitro fertilisation.

"In-vitro fertilisation, meaning the artificial implanting of sperm in female eggs, has a higher rate of success, but the fees are high so not every couple can afford them," said Van.

In September, doctors at Tu Du Hospital in HCM City began research on a new method, which 30 per cent cheaper than in-vitro fertilisation and takes only a third of the time.

Source: VNS