MAP and fertility: Progesti.it is born
A digital project to support the growing number of couples who face the path of Medically Assisted Procreation (MAP) in search of a pregnancy.
The initiative is called Progesti.it, a site on fertility that makes the experience of the Specialists of this important Therapeutic Area available to all: a tool for orienting oneself in a delicate path such as that of MAP, an authoritative and scientifically reliable support to to turn with confidence to face every choice with the necessary awareness.
Educate to prevent
A sort of "web counseling" dedicated to the dream of becoming parents, therefore, but not only: Progesta.it also acts as a tool for "fertility education", emphasizing the importance of preserving this individual and social heritage through prevention responsible from a young age. Promptly diagnosing pathologies or avoiding lifestyles that can potentially cause infertility in the years to come is the simplest and most direct way to safeguard future parenthood.
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When telling becomes a need
On the PMA front, the need for advice, indications and feedback is evident from the confusion and disorientation that emerges on the internet on the subject: in couples the desire for motherhood is almost always accompanied by that of being reassured and encouraged about the path taken or by undertake.
Here comes the further purpose of Progesti.it: to offer itself as a reassuring point of reference, capable of restoring centrality to people's emotions and experiences.
For this reason, the platform will give ample space for involvement, and in particular will host a "storytelling" initiative entitled ParoleFertili, dedicated to the narration and sharing of stories of couples with infertility problems.
Also present on Facebook and Twitter with a dedicated account, ParoleFertili is a space, open to men and women, to collect the voices and emotions of those who have embarked on the path of finding a child through MAP. Stories will be published in the form of texts, videos, photos, or audio only, which can be commented on and "adopted" by readers.
Finally, all the stories published will contribute to a social purpose, with the donation by IBSA Farmaceutici to a reception center of funds intended for the health of immigrant women and their children.
The partners of the entire project include the National Observatory on Women's Health - Onda (www.ondaeravatorio.it), which for 10 years has been engaged in promoting a culture of gender medicine at the institutional, health-care, scientific level - academic and social with the aim of protecting and improving women's health. In preparation for the Fertility Day of 22 September, Onda created “Fertility: a precious asset for women and for society. How to take care of it and help it ", an information booklet aimed at women who want to responsibly deal with their fertility and which will be disseminated from June in the 248 hospitals with the Pink Stamps (the recognition that Onda assigns to hospitals most attentive to women's health, www. bollinirosa.it).
Infertility, a problem of our day
With an average of 1.39 children per woman and 64,000 fewer children born in the last 5 years, Italy is among the European countries with the lowest birth rate, according to data that emerged from an advisory board of the Ministry of Health in subject of protection, knowledge and prevention of infertility. This determines a progressive aging of the population, which naturally brings with it problems and high social costs.
The reasons for this alarming reduction in the birth rate are mainly to be found in the reproductive difficulties that couples are increasingly faced with today: the Ministry in fact highlights that about 1 in 5 couples have fertility problems, 50% more than 20 years ago, largely due to the increase in the average age of first conception, which has grown by 10 years for both sexes in the last thirty years.
The causes of infertility are divided equally (40%) between the male factor and the female factor, while the remaining 20% concerns a mixed component.
From this reality, the need to raise awareness and inform about fertility clearly emerges: a precious asset to be protected even with the help offered today by medical and scientific advances.
Fertility goal
This is how the Ministry, as part of a broader National Plan for Fertility, organized the first Fertility Day for 22 September 2016, a nationwide event that will involve the population, but also schools, institutions, doctors, companies. Scientists and pharmacies, through information-training meetings in the area, aimed at spreading the "culture of fertility"; the goal is to investigate crucial issues such as those on diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases that can jeopardize the joy of having a child with the help of experts.
Heterologous: a difficult road
An important role in the protection of fertility is certainly played by Medically Assisted Procreation (PMA), a path that today can count on increasingly safe and reliable techniques, but which are not always able to guarantee infertile couples the joy of having a child. . In fact, even with heterologous - that is, that fertilization technique in which the male sperm or female oocyte (or both) belong to an external donor - the path is not always easy. Furthermore, the age problem should not be underestimated, which often limits the success of assisted fertilization techniques. Theoretically made possible in Italy by a 2014 ruling, then reaffirmed by the subsequent guidelines of July 2015, in reality the heterologous still constitutes today an "obstacle course", a source of anxiety for couples, where the lack of certainties and bureaucratic impediments are compounded by the scarcity of functioning public centers and also the absence of donors.
Edited by Portale della Salute and Progesti.it
