IVF News

In Beijing, couples using the city public medical insurance scheme, will be insured for 16 different types of fertility treatment, as part of China's response to counteract the country's declining birth rates.

China has continued to see a decline in birth rate despite encouraging couples to have a third child, since the three-child policy was introduced last year. In 2021, the number of births per woman in China was 1.15, which was one of the lowest in the world, according to the Chinese cable TV news service, CGTN.

'The announcement of the policy shows the country's determination to encourage birth,' Liao Xi, dean of Beijing Perfect Family Hospital, told the Beijing-based newspaper, Securities Daily. 'Those who choose assisted reproductive technologies have a strong willingness to have a child. But the success rate of the technologies is limited. The services were previously not included under the public medical insurance scheme because they are costly.'

The insurance will cover fertility treatment, including IVF and intrauterine insemination (IUI) from 26 March, as reported by Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency. IUI involves sperm being directly injected into the uterus for improved fertilisation success. The number of IVF rounds that couples can have subsidised is also unlimited as reported in the Times.

Some Beijing residents have responded well to this change in policy as reported by the Chinese state-owned online magazine, Sixth Tone. They interviewed 30-year old Luo Yanan, who has spent 50,000 yuan on two unsuccessful IVF procedures, last year. Yanan 'hopes to try the procedure again and is relieved that part of the costs would be covered by insurance.'

This change in Beijing's insurance scheme may spread to other cities as well. An employee from an infertility treatment centre in Shanghai, told Sixth Tone: 'the city is now under pressure to add assisted reproductive technologies to insurance scheme after Beijing's move.'

China is also considering additional measures in easing the burden of child-rearing for families. These includes longer maternity leave and increasing the number of nurseries available.

SOURCES & REFERENCES

On March 1st, our Microptic participated in the tenth edition of the Master’s Degree In Reproductive Medicine, organized by the Department of Biotechnology of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Alicante (UA) and the Instituto Bernabeu de Alicante (IB), by doing a practical workshop on semen analysis.

In this session, held in the University of Alicante (Spain), international students learned to prepare sperm samples and assess them with the CASA system SCA – Sperm Class Analyzer.

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MICROPTIC, specialized in biomedicine, offers training courses, workshops and webinars to professionals in the field of semen analysis. MICROPTIC’s learning concept includes education at different levels – taught by biologists – and hands-on training with fresh sample.

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Moderators: 
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Ana Pereira Daoud

“Focus on time-lapse analysis: blastocyst collapse and morphometric assessment as new features of embryo viability”.
Romualdo Sciorio

“Will the introduction of automated ART laboratory systems render the majority of embryologists redundant?”
Lorena Bori Arnal

Panel discussion and Q and A.

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Bad news is frequently shared in fertility care, but there is little knowledge about patients’ and staff’s views and needs regarding how bad news is communicated. 

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• the bad news regarding fertility care was shared/received in the last 2 months
• you are over 18 years-old

By bad news we mean any information that has a negative or serious effect on the person’s view of their future, noting that what is bad news is always the opinion of the person receiving the news.

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The proportion of multiple births following IVF has fallen dramatically to six percent, according to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

The number of multiple births has reached an all-time low in the UK. 'This is a major success for UK healthcare. Multiple births can be dangerous for both patients and unborn babies and can put an additional burden on the NHS,' explained Julia Chain, chair of the HFEA.

The new report from the HFEA, published last week, summarised data on multiple births following IVF between 2015 and 2019. Multiple births carry a higher risk of prematurity, which can result in long-term health issues such as cerebral palsy and learning difficulties in the child. Women carrying multiple pregnancies are also at a higher risk of pre-eclampsia and late miscarriage. The HFEA reported a substantial reduction in the UK multiple birth rate from the 1990s to 2019, falling from 28 percent to just six percent.

Importantly, the HFEA found that the reduction in multiple births by transferring only one embryo at a time does not seem to have had an impact on success rates. On the contrary, IVF success rates have steadily improved. In addition, no difference was found between IVF success rates for patients using the NHS and patients whose treatment was funded privately. However, the rate of multiple births was higher among young, privately funded patients (nine percent) compared to NHS patients (five percent).

Historically, multiple birth rates following IVF have been higher than multiple birth rates following natural conception, because of multiple embryos being transferred into the womb at once. The practice of triple embryo transfer was restricted in 2003 to patients under 40, apart from in exceptional circumstances. Then in 2007, the HFEA's 'One at a Time' campaign encouraged clinics to practise single embryo transfer and freeze other viable embryos. Single embryo transfers have since limited the rate of multiple births to between one and three percent across all age groups.

The HFEA's report did, however, reveal that multiple birth rates have not fallen evenly across all demographics. Multiple births and multiple embryo transfers were significantly higher in black patients than in other ethnic groups, at a rate of 12 percent compared with an average of ten percent across other groups. Consequently, black women and their babies remain at a higher risk from the complications of a multiple birth.

Chain affirmed that the HFEA will 'encourage clinics to review their multiple birth strategies, particularly in relation to patients from ethnic minority groups as we want to achieve a level playing field for all patients.'

SOURCES & REFERENCES

Tuesday, 15th February, 2022. 3pm EST/ 8pm UK/ 9pm CET

Moderators:
Dr. Thomas (Rusty) Pool and Prof. Barry Behr

Presenting:
Introduction
TJ Farnsworth Founder and CEO Inception Fertility

“The Business of Operating Multiple ART laboratories”
Dr Kathy Miller, Vice President of MedTech For Solutions

Supply and Demand: The Life of Per Diem/Locum Embryologists Video and Discussion

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