Ajayi, fertility crusader shortlisted for Lagos State Man of the Year 2017 Award

Dr Ajayi

TO a wide section of Nigerians, the nomination of  the Managing Director/CEO Nordica Lagos, Dr Abayomi Ajayi, by the Centre for Policy Development & Political Studies, for the coveted Lagos State Man of the Year 2017 Award is a welcome development.

Among the bevy of great achievers and notable captains of industry shortlisted in recognition of their excellence, innovation and advocacy in their chosen field of endeavor, Ajayi stands out in a class of his own.

His listing for the prestigious award does not come as a surprise considering his significant professional achievements and contributions towards the advancement of medicine in Nigeria

in general and Lagos State in particular.

Ajayi's

antecedents as a major thought leader in the Nigerian health sector are indubitable. Ajayi’s contributions towards educating the Nigerian public and medical professionals in the area of assisted reproduction are second to none.

A clinical gynaecologist and fertility medicine specialist with over 33 years experience, Ajayi has dedicated 28 years of his medical career to reproductive health and the last 15 years to helping families challenged with infertility to achieve their dream through assisted conception.

A true advocate for Sexual and Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR) and maternal/ child healthcare, his aptitude for bringing succour to women with complex gynaecological issues is notable.

From his days as a Consultant at Lagoon Hospital, Lagos, Ajayi’s passion for impacting on women’s reproductive health issues and resolving infertility and other sexual and reproductive health problems of married couples has been established.

This passion culminated in the emergence of the Nordica group of fertility centres that rank among the best in Nigeria and Africa.

Through the Nordica Fertility Centre with branches in Lagos, Abuja and Asaba, Ajayi and his team of professionals, provide high-end Assisted Reproductive Treatment services in the form of IVF, ICSI, IUI and other modern advanced techniques in fertility services.

Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, in particular, has been at the forefront of educating Nigerians about fertility treatment options while offering one of the strongest Corporate Social Responsibility and community development services in the country.

Winner of the several awards including the “Icon Of Health Promotion Award” instituted by the Faculty of Clinical Sciences, College of Medicine University of Lagos, Ajayi in the course of his professional exploits, has impacted positively on the lives of thousands of Nigerians by restoring hope and helping couples to overcome the challenge of infertility and  complete their families through Assisted Reproductive Techniques, ART, such as IVF.

He has been in the forefront of research into male infertility and use of genetics in IVF to help investigate why babies die at birth and ways of eliminating congenital abnormalities in newborns.

For the past 12 years through his NGO - the Endometriosis Support Group Nigeria (ESGN) - Ajayi has helped break the silence around Endometriosis, a dreaded but often misdiagnosed condition that affects women of reproductive age.

Through sustained awareness drive, as well as helping to treat the infertility often associated with the condition, Ajayi is helping to awaken the consciousness of both the medical community and the general public to the scourge.

Dr Abayomi Ajayi

In recognition of his relentless pursuit and notable efforts to improve the quality of life of many women in Nigeria living with endometriosis, and also helping to finding lasting solution to the menace, Endo March Worldwide awarded him the “Endo Hero of the Year Award” among other accolades.

In partnership with the Fertility Treatment Support Foundation (FTSF), a registered non-profit organisation that gives out free IVF treatment to infertile couples, Ajayi, through Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, has enabled Nigerian couples with the challenge of infertility, to access full assisted reproduction technology, ART, services, in form of Free IVF treatment cycles.

Recently, Nordica and its technical partners, FTSF/Alibaba Jan 1st Concert organised free fertility treatments for indigent Nigerians. Six couples are beneficiaries of this initiative.

One of the best qualities Ajayi has entrenched in the health sector is helping the medical profession, as well as the public, to demystify IVF by explaining how it works, and unmasking negative perceptions towards IVF babies and fertility treatments in general.

By helping to establish acceptable legal framework and regulation of the Assisted Reproductive Techniques industry, Ajayi has spearheaded advanced medical education beyond the mainstream for Nigerian doctors in the area of heteroscopic surgery, acupuncture and minimal access surgery, among a host of others.

Today, more than ever before, the significance of infertility treatment is apparent in Nigeria, and the old perception of infertility as a deadline is gradually changing. A lifeline in the form of infertility treatment is the new order.

Ajayi’s role in impacting on the health and welfare of Nigerian women, couples and the family unit as a whole is strengthening this new order.  

Winning the Lagos State Man of the Year 2017 Award can only inspire and galvanise such effort and enable more lives to be touched with the message of hope in fertility.

*To vote for Dr Ajayi as the Lagos State Man of the Year 2017, just text “Award Dr Abayomi Ajayi “ to +234708585007. Kindly cast your vote and tell your friends to also support his nomination by casting their votes on or before Sunday August 20th 2017 when voting ends.

Assisted Reproductive Technology market to hit $3.779 billion in 2025

A new market report published by Transparency Market Research entitled: "Assisted Reproductive Technology Market: (Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth Trends and Forecast, 2017 - 2025" shows that the global market for Assisted reproductive Technology (ART) was valued at $2,210.0 million in 2016 and is estimated to reach $3,779.0 million by 2024 at a CAGR of 6.3 per cent from 2017 to 2025.

Assisted Reproductive Technology  (ART) are treatments for infertility, performed to achieve a child birth. The ART procedures includes artificial insemination or stimulation of ovaries to increase egg production, or procedures where the eggs and sperm are combined in a laboratory (in vitro) and the resulting embryo is transferred to a woman to attain pregnancy. 

Delay in childbearing age to pursue higher education and career growth which has increase the demand for ART treatment.

Increasing population of women of advanced reproductive age is seeking for assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment due to age-related infertility. Adoption of ART has increased worldwide but rise have been most boosted in jurisdictions that provide public funding for ART treatment.

The rising incidence of infertility, high success rate of ART treatment and increase in number of fertility clinics worldwide has gain popularity among the patients for adoption of ART treatment which has augmented the growth of assisted reproductive technology market.

The global ART market is segmented into technology, procedure, end users and regions. Based on technology, the assisted reproductive technology market is segmented as in IVF, artificial insemination, surrogacy and others. The IVF market is segmented into intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and pre-implantation genetic diagnostic (PGD).

Artificial insemination is segmented into intrauterine insemination and intracervical insemination and others. In vitro fertilization is the major segment of technology in the assisted reproductive technology market. 

High success rate and technological advancement in development of new devices for IVF treatment are likely to propel the expansion of the segment during the forecast period. 

Rise in rate of male infertility, low cost of artificial insemination technology and surrogacy in developing nations, rising incidence of reproductive tourism & cross border reproductive care are estimated to drive the market of artificial insemination and surrogacy segment during forecast period. The others segment is anticipated to remain steady during the forecast period due to the high cost and less awareness of GIFT and ZIFT technologies and dominance of IVF and surrogacy in the global market.

Based on procedure, the market is segmented into frozen donor, frozen non donor, fresh donor, fresh non donor, and embryo banking. Fresh non donor segment accounted to hold the largest market share in 2016, due to low cost of overall treatment with usage of own egg, and high rate of success of ART cycle with usage of fresh non donor procedure. 

Frozen non donor is the second largest segment and is likely to be driven by development of new technology for freezing, rise in awareness about medical fertility preservation, and initiatives by governments in opening and expansion of fertility preservation centres.

Based on end user, the assisted reproductive technology market is segmented into fertility clinics, hospitals and others. Fertility clinics accounted to hold the largest market share in 2016, due to constant rise in fertility clinics, high success rate of fertility treatment in clinics due to adoption of advance technology, tie up of clinics with consultant, and rising fertility tourism. 

The hospitals segment is expected to grow by 2024 due to advanced procedures and equipment, availability of expert doctors, and ongoing research in hospitals for improving the success rate and technology in ART treatment.

The Global Assisted Reproductive Technology Market is segmented by Technology as follows:

In Vitro Fertilization, Intra-cytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI), Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD), Artificial Insemination, Intrauterine Insemination (IUI), Intracervical Insemination (ICI) and

Surrogacy among others.

Ebola detected in semen of survivors two years after infection

Ebola virus can persist in the semen of survivors more than two years after the onset of infection researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found.

Detection of Ebola virus Riboxynucleic Acid, RNA, (genetic material) in the semen of men who had previously had a negative test of their semen in some cases has been reported, according to results of the study published in Open Forum Infectious Diseases.

Investigators from Ohio-based Clinical Research Management and the ELWA Hospital in Liberia have thus suggested revision of the 2016 World Health Organization guidelines relating to the sexual transmission of Ebola, which calls for men who survive Ebola virus disease (EVD) to undertake measures such as abstinence and the use of condoms for at least 12 months after the onset of EVD or until their semen has tested negative for Ebola virus RNA twice.

Male participants enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study of Ebola survivors in Monrovia, Liberia, consented to donating semen.
Of the 149 men who provided samples, 13 tested positive for Ebola virus RNA. Of these 13 men, 11 had positive results even two years after the onset of Ebola infection.
"Our finding of long term persistence and intermittent detection of viral RNA in semen suggests we need to change how we think about Ebola as it is no longer only an acute illness, but also one with potential long-term effects," Dr William A. Fischer, an assistant professor in the UNC Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and the study's co-author.
"It is becoming clear that in some survivors, evidence of the virus can linger in the male genital tract for long periods of time with important potential implications for transmission."
Fischer notes that while there has been documented sexual transmission of Ebola earlier after acute infection, it is not known whether the presence of RNA serves as a correlate for infectious virus and if transmission this far out is possible.
The study team also reports that the men whose samples tested positive for Ebola virus RNA were more likely to be older than those with a negative result.
Those who had Ebola virus RNA detected in their semen also complained of vision problems at a higher rate than male survivors without evidence of Ebola virus RNA in their semen.
The researchers recommend future studies investigate the source of viral persistence and whether the detection of viral RNA signifies the presence of infectious virus.
The large Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 to 2015 was devastating to the people in West Africa and beyond, said David Wohl, professor of Infectious Diseases at UNC and study co-author noted: "However, the scale of the epidemic has allowed for researchers to gain better insights into the Ebola virus, including the potential persistence of the virus in certain compartments of the body, such as the genital tract."

World leaders pledge $1.2b to protect 450m children from polio

GPEI has launched a rapid response to reach Nigeria's last child 

GLOBAL health leaders have reaffirmed  commitment to eradicating polio even as they  gathered at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta to uphold their pledge of US$ 1.2 billion to finance efforts to end the disease. To end polio for good, government representatives and partners came together to renew their commitment to supporting crucial activities such as vaccination and disease monitoring, which will protect more than 450 million children from polio each year. Thanks to the incredible efforts of Rotarians, governments, health workers, partners and donors –  including those who have gathered at the Rotary Convention in Atlanta – we are closer than ever to making history,” said Chris Elias, Global Development President, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Chair of the GPEI Polio Oversight Board. “These new commitments will help ensure that we will finish the job.” In a time of many global challenges and priorities, governments and partners have stepped forward to demonstrate their collective resolve to seeing the second human disease ever eradicated. 

Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and John Germ, president of Rotary International, also announced an extension of their partnership in front of more than 20,000 Rotarians. Up to US$ 150 million in funds raised by Rotary members over the next three years will be matched 2:1 by the Gates Foundation, resulting in up to US$ 450 million in the next three years for the GPEI.
The Gates Foundation pledged a total of US$ 450 million, including this matching agreement.
“The global eradication of polio has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985. Rotary members have been the driving force behind the fight to end polio since its inception,” said John Germ, President of Rotary International. “Their continued commitment to raising funds for eradication – coupled with today’s match by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – makes that impact even greater.”
Today’s funding helps address a US$1.5 billion funding need that will help ensure that the virus is eliminated from these remaining countries and prevented from regaining a foothold anywhere else in the world.
 “Constant innovation has been key to improving vaccination coverage and reaching more children with the polio vaccine,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, Acting Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The unrelenting commitment and support of these global leaders will help us do just that—and ultimately end this disease for everyone and forever. CDC remains deeply committed to polio eradication and has contributed US$ 2.28 billion since the beginning of the initiative."
WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan said: “The key to ending polio will be to ensure that millions of health workers – some of whom work in the most challenging environments in the world – are able to reach every child, everywhere in the world. Eradicating polio will be a perpetual gift to coming generations.”
Today’s contributions and the continued commitment of all donors and partners will help end this devastating disease and ensure that the infrastructure and assets used to fight polio lay the foundation for better health outcomes for children everywhere for years to come.

1 million girls receive education support in N/E Nigeria

One million out of school girls in northern Nigeria are to be assisted and supported to go to school and remain there towards improving their learning achievement under the pilot scheme of the Girls for Girls (G4G) initiative.

The G4G initiative is a component of the Girls’ Education Project Phase 3 being implemented in northern Nigeria through a collaboration between UNICEF Nigeria and the

Federal Government of Nigeria with funding from the United Kingdom (UK) Department of International Development (DFID).  The project empowers girls with information and knowledge to help build their capacity to stand up for themselves. It aims at creating equal opportunities for girls to access education in states with the highest number of girls who do not attend school in Nigeria.
At the launch of the project on the Day of the African Child 2017, UNICEF declared zero compromise on girls' education while advocating for empowerment in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Boards in Bauchi, Niger, Katsina, Sokoto and Zamfara states. 

Speaking during the launch, UNICEF Representative in Nigeria, Mohamed Fall noted: “The G4G initiative is a commitment to improve the quality of girls’ and ultimately women’s lives by empowering girls through education.
“By educating girls, practices such as early marriage will be uprooted and girls will be empowered to contribute to the development of their communities, states and Nigeria." 

The primary goal of G4G is to empower girls with knowledge, skills and confidence needed to enroll and remain in school, completing the full course of education so they can be role model to other girls in their communities. 

Working with members of the Mothers Association as mentors, girls will initiate and lead a range of activities to identify barriers to the education of girls in their communities and work to remove such barriers so girls will enroll and remain in school.

According to UNICEF, despite important education gains in recent decades, Nigeria still has the largest number of girls not in school.

"When girls enter school, a vast majority of them do not complete primary school education. The average girl stays in school only through age nine. Less than one-third of girls in Nigeria enrol in the lower secondary school, and, in northern Nigeria, less than one in 10 girls generally complete secondary education.

G4G groups are to be established in more than 8,000 Primary and Qur’anic schools by 2019.

Parents of IVF children narrate struggles with infertility

From left:  Mother of quintuplets,  Mrs.  Victoria Olayemi,  with Dr Abayomi Ajayi,  MD Nordica Fertility Center, Lagos and Clinic Manager, Nordica Fertility Center. Lagos, with some IVF children during the Nordica Bon Bon party held at Fun City,  Victoria Island,  Lagos in commemoration of Children's Day 2017. 

Not unexpectedly, most people turn out to be good parents, but when you become a father or mother after years of struggling with infertility, you’re more than likely to become a great parent. It is also known fact that children conceived after IVF are much cherished and loved despite the their struggle with infertility.
This much holds true for a number of men and women challenged by infertility before becoming parents. One of such is Mrs. Folasade Akinode, a retired director of pharmacy, who got pregnant for the first time after 18 years of marriage and became a mother of triplets at 57.
Folasade, who is currently the oldest woman to conceive after IVF at Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos, gave insight into her infertility story during the last Nordica Bon Bon family fiesta at Fun Factory, Victoria Island, Lagos - an annual get together of families whose children were conceived at Nordica Fertility Centre, Lagos.
After battling the challenge of infertility for years, Folasade recounted how she conceived at 56 and at 57 delivered triplets, two girls and one boy. Tragically, the male child was lost soon after birth, but the girls - Mojereigbagbo Esther and Eriigbagbo Mary are doing excellently.
Folasade who described the joy of being a mother as “indescribable” remarked: “Maybe I would have died. I can’t describe the joy.
“I opted for IVF because I didn’t have children earlier. It was when I reached menopause that I decided to do it. I was married 18 years. I had triplets but lost one. I am happy I won’t die without children.
“IVF worked for me. It was not expensive for me, I was working then, I was even training children. I spent over N1million.It is real. My children will be seven years this year.”
Folasade’s story is one of the growing cases of postmenopausal pregnancy, that is, women that become mothers after menopause.
But women that are premenopausal benefit even more from IVF and other Assisted Reproduction Techniques. According to Lara Evborokhai, an accountant, who waited 16 years to have her baby, conceiving through IVF is worth the cost.
Lara argued that the idea of children conceived through IVF and other ART procedures, coming together to associate with each other, interact, have fun and create awareness helps give hope and demystify perceptions about IVF babies not being normal babies.
“I am a member of FAAI and my husband is the President of the support group. From Nordica I have a daughter, her name is Sarah. I waited 16 years before Sarah came, and she will be 4 in July. I’m so proud I didn’t sit at home thinking there is a witch in my village haunting me.”
Admitting that the IVF procedure could be expensive, Lara said couples that work towards it usually find it achievable and affordable.
“For those of us who are still breathing, don’t fold your hands and sit back there thinking there is a witch in your village blocking your womb and preventing you from conceiving. Get up and seek medical advice.
“IVF babies are normal babies,” she asserted. “While it is not everybody who necessarily needs IVF but if your doctor says you need IVF, please go for it. Save the money, it is achievable. I did it.”
According to Oladipo, also parent of IVF baby:  “I have one boy, Emmanuel, after 19 years of fruitless marriage, at that time my wife was close to 50 before we had him. Actually if you see him he looks like me. We are like identical brothers. By July he will be nine.
 “Many people run from IVF, thinking that IVF children are not normal but we are here to say that IVF babies are normal babies, very intelligent with high IQ.  As parents we are spreading the gospel for people should do IVF if they have challenges with fertility.”
Another baby, Emmanuel Soetan, was conceived through IVF after his parents had been married 11 years and his mother had almost attained age of 50. In the views of his father, Ebenezer, there are many families either unaware of IVF or cannot afford it.
“They can draw from our experience. We’ve been there and have successful stories to tell through the thick and thin. “IVF babies are intelligent and normal.”
Victoria Olayemi a.k.a. Mother of Five-Alive, who gave birth to the first set of quintuplets at Nordica (the Shofunlayos quintuplets) in 2011, is also on the long list of mothers of Nordica’s IVF children.
The Bon Bon Fiesta at Fun Factory, Victoria Island, Lagos, is put together in celebration of Children’s Day by the Fertility Awareness and Alliance Initiative, FAAI, a support group to Nordica, with the aim of creating awareness among married couples that are looking for the fruit of the womb in order to “complete” their families
Medical Director Nordica fertility centre, Lagos, Abuja and Asaba, Dr. Abayomi Ajayi, said age has never been a barrier to parenthood, “but the fact that there is technology doesn’t mean we use it anyhow and so what we try to do is to limit the age at which you can have IVF.
“A 60-year old can have it but we try not to do that in Nordica for so many obvious reasons because the children are going to grow up in future. A 60-year-old can have children as long as there is a uterus and the woman is healthy. But due to cultural reasons of raising children, we try not carry out procedures for 70-year-olds.
“For a 70-year old looking after a child would be really very tough that’s why we try to put a limit to it. The truth is that the oldest mother in the world is 70, so it is possible once you are healthy.
Ajayi described the greatest challenge to ART in the country as the foreign exchange. “We are heavily dependent on the foreign exchange. Everything is imported; if you want to do IVF it is imported and therefore costs money. There is a limit to which you can increase your prices.
He advised that in order to make IVF more accessible to the people, government must enforce regulation. “What government can do to help is to really see that we don’t have quacks so that people that are going to pay out of pocket will get value for money.
“We have an association trying to do that but you know that there is no association that has the ability to police so even if we say we you are not doing it right if there is no power to police and say we need to shut you down, then people will continue to go there and some people who don’t know much about IVF look at cost, that’s not how to go about IVF because there are different things involved. It depends on what the problem is and that’s what’s going to determine the treatment and probably the technology that will be applied to you.
“The first thing is that our people need to know more about IVF just like every other part of the cost. They need to be more conscious about how things work and then also confront some of these people who are doing some funny things.
“In Nordica we complete families and have a worthy alliance with FAAI. They decided we are celebrate the children and they agreed to sponsor it, that’s what this is about, celebrating the lives of our children because to them belong the future of Nigeria and the world, so they are worthy of celebration and since there is a day dedicated to celebrating children, we just thought it would be nice that we join the world to celebrate our children.”

Nigerian youths seek sustainable immunization financing plan

Nigerian Youths have called on the Federal Government to develop a sustainable domestic plan for Vaccine Financing as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance begins its five year exit plan from vaccine financing support for the country.
The position was made known  at the end of a 2-day Routine Immunisation Youth Champions retreat put together by Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR) through Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health (PACFaH).
Among issues discussed and resolutions reached at the end of the retreat was the recently approved $125m World Bank Loan to finance 2017 Polio Eradication Programme, and other Routine Immunisation Vaccines, but stressed the need for government’s ownership of Immunization financing, without dependence on loans and donors support.
The youths, representing a coalition of CHR-PACFaH CSOs from Bauchi, Kaduna, Kano Niger and National called for recovered monies to fund pressing health issues and strengthening of Primary Healthcare Centers.
They urged government to increase budgetary allocation to immunisation during the Gavi Transition period to bridge funding gaps as well as provide innovative financing through taxes.
 They called for full implementation of  recommendations contained in the Addis Declaration on Immunization Financing ratified by 54 African Ministers of Health during the 2016 Ministerial Conference on Immunisation in Addis Ababa, recently and endorsed by African Heads of States at the 70th World Health Assembly,
The youths who are members of Kaduna State Accountability Mechanism for MNCH (KADMAM), Bauchi State Accountability Mechanism for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (BASAM), Accountability Mechanism for Maternal Newborn and Child Health in Kano State (AMMKaS), Civil Society on Maternal Newborn and Child Health in Niger State (COMiN), and TrackHealth National Accountability Mechanism (T-NAM), also saw the need for Nigeria to create an immunization trust fund.