National Infertility Awareness Week is April 21 – 27, 2014
This year marks the 25th anniversary of National Infertility Awareness Week, held from April 20–26, 2014. Sponsored by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, this year’s slogan is “resolve to know more.”
The stated goal of NIAW is to raise awareness about the disease of infertility and encourage the public to understand their reproductive health.
What does this mean?
While many people may think that infertility affects only women, it also impacts men, and healthcare and mental health professionals of both sexes. One in eight U.S. couples of childbearing age is diagnosed with infertility—7.3 million women in the U.S. and their partners, which constitutes approximately 12% of the reproductive-age population. Women and men are equally affected: one third of infertility cases can be attributed to female factors, one third to male factors, and one third a combination of female and male factors or unexplained.
The media tends to focus only on age-related infertility issues or on those women who take extreme measures, like “Octo-Mom,” but the truth is that infertility affects women of all ages and backgrounds. And not all women can afford infertility treatment.
Insurance coverage for infertility is only available in 15 out of 50 states in America. And while cost information is hard to come by, Resolve has put together the following estimates:
- Average cost of an IUI cycle: $865; Median Cost: $350
- Average Cost of an IVF cycle using fresh embryos (not including medications): $8,158; Median Cost: $7,500
- Average additional cost of ICSI procedure:$1,544; Median Cost: $1,500
- Average additional cost of PGD procedure: $3,550; Median Cost: $3,200 (Note: Medications for IVF are $3,000 $5,000 per fresh cycle on average.)
When insurance doesn’t pay, those costs are borne by the couple attempting to get pregnant.
Resolve also hopes that NIAW will raise awareness of the options available to women or couples who cannot conceive without assistance. In addition to fertility medications and assisted reproductive technology such as intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in-vitro fertilization (IVF), these options include:
- Adoption
- Donor Options
- Living Childfree
- Surrogacy
Finally, NIAW helps to educate women on their bodies, providing basic information on the female reproductive system and how conception occurs, and more specific information on ovulation and fertility, the menstrual cycle, the male reproductive system and hormones in both genders.
To find out more about National Infertility Awareness Week, visit their website.
At Chouchani, Sayegh and Bagnarello, we are committed to helping our patients with family planning and infertility. Please contact us today to talk with one of our knowledgeable OB-GYN doctors in Western New York. We have three convenient locations across Western New York.