Fertility Tourism: Emerging Trend In Medical Essay.

What is Fertility Tourism?

Fertility tourism is also commonly known as the reproductive tourism. It is considered as the process of travelling from one country to another country for the reason of fertility treatment. It can be referred as a kind of medical tourism. The actual reasons for this are the legal prohibitions that are faced in the home country. It includes the unavailability of the proper medical facility in the home country. The other reason behind this is the lower cost of the treatment in the destination country where the individual is willing to go for the treatment. The main procedures in this process are the In-vitro fertilization and the insemination of donor. Sometimes it also includes the process of surrogacy. The purpose of the report is to analyze the different aspects related to this. The aspects like the accommodation, foods, the future demand of this concept and the popularity of the same is included along with the ways of making it popular has been included in the report towards the end.  

The concept of tourism evolved while the people were unable to find better medical in his or her hometown. In such case the patients travel abroad for attaining better medical facility at a cheaper rate. This happens when the anonymous donor in a country is banned. The countries in which it is banned are Sweden, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, UK and Finland (Cohen 2015). The most important reason behind this is the insufficient compensation, taxation applied during compensation, a high cost of the treatment. The eradication of the supply of the anonymous donor is because of few reasons like a low limitation of the number of pregnancies per donor, it is also because the requirements that the donor must be proven fathers before commencing as a donor. The ban in the treatment of the lesbians and the singles is another factor. The restrictions are actually made in order to cope up with some ethical issues. The ethical issues include the protection of the interest of the child and the interest of the recipient. These are the main reasons of the emergence of this system (Connell 2015).

The concept of fertility tourism began when the doctors were trying to make out what was known as the sterility. The concept of fertility was considered divine and not a medical situation. The inability of carrying a child was considered to be something that was the result of the ultimate decision taken by God. However the understanding of the concept of fertility was slowly emerging as a new subject (Globalivf.com 2017). After the nineteenth century as science started to develop the doctors made efforts to understand the concept of infertility. With the basic knowledge of terms related to fertility like the sperm, ova, eggs which are essential parts of the female body parts. With the attainment of the basic knowledge the research of the problem started. In the resent days the problem started to grow in such a huge amount that in many countries there is no appropriate treatment for this. The treatment in these cases is expensive in some countries and is certain hospitals are not well-equipped with the treatment of this problem. This was the main reason of the migration of the people to some other country for the better and reasonable medical facility. This is widely known as the fertility tourism as the person aiming to go some other country in this case aims towards a better medical facility. They can be termed as tourist but they have visited for the cause of treatment therefore, this has been termed as fertility tourism. In today`s world it is a demanding concept and is widely practiced. It ultimately helps the ones who want to have a child but is unable to have that because of some biological issues. The word tourism is attached to the concept as the individual goes to some other place for the treatment as an outsider. This implies to the fact that the individual visits there as a tourist. This is the reason this concept is known as tourism fertility (Deomampo 2013).

Reasons behind Fertility Tourism

The most preferable destination for the fertility treatment is the United States. It has been reported that in the past years maximum amount of medical treatment has been done in the United States. This is because of the availability of the advanced treatment and the faculty of the expert doctors. In some of the American countries the treatment is done in a cheaper rate. There are several medical treatments that are offered in many American hospitals that offer international patient centers that cater to the needs of the patients from the other foreign countries that come to seek advanced treatment in the United States. In United States there are several hospitals that offer service coordinators in order to provide better service and assistance to the international patients with the arrangements for the medical care, the accommodations, cost and finance and the transportation. Many organizations have the facility of offering the air ambulance services and air conditioned ambulance. The special attraction of the United States regarding the fertility treatment is the accommodation facility it has. In maximum hospitals the accommodation is spacious and neat. They even allow the family to stay along with the patients. The foods and the beverages of the hospitals are safe. All types of healthy foods are provided in the hospitals. In maximum organizations they are in partnership with the some food and beverage caterers to offer good foods to the patients.

Artificial insemination

During the early days the solution for female infertility was always surgical. With the progress of the medical facilities the concept of artificial insemination came into being. This was one of the most remarkable progresses in this field (Salama 2014). This process came to be known as assisted reproductive technologies. After a lot of experiments this process became a successful one. Initially the experiment resulted in lots of miscarriages. Later it was considered that the male factor infertility has a major role to play in the case of the failure of having a child. It was then that the concept of using a donor sperm came into being. The idea of donor sperm was used as an option. It is treated as a solution in this case in many developed countries. It is a costly treatment but is reasonable compared to the other treatments (Deonandan 2015).

IVF

The progress from the artificial insemination to IVF was a huge one. It was a challenging one in terms of public one as well as scientifically. This process is majorly practiced in USA. In the later years the role of hormones, progesterone, estrogen and testosterone were all realized in the process of pregnancy (Payne 2015). It includes the use of chemical hormone substitutes and the supplements that were necessary to complete the process. These were made available. This was considered as a standard development towards the process of infertility. The IVF experiments were conducted throughout the entire world in the developed countries. The process had to undergo a lot of obstacles regarding the funding system and there was a prevailing fear in the medical surrounding. There were certain stereotypical thoughts attached to this concept. This was the reason it took time to become popular. The people usually prefer United States for this treatment (Lanefertilityinstitute.com 2017). 

Evolution of Fertility Treatment

Egg donation

One of the most advanced treatments of infertility is the process of egg donation. The use of this process was a big challenge. Later the use of donor eggs was made publicly available. The use of commercial donor bank has been made available in the later years. It was used for artificial insemination as well as IVF. This treatment was proved to be an effective one as the egg donation pregnancies occurred in the later years. More than fifty thousand births occurred from the donor ova. IVF with egg donation has proved to be an effective treatment. The woman who has been suffering from poor quality of egg has gained lot of help from this particular treatment. It has opened the opportunity for many couple for enjoy the parenthood (Hanefeld, et al. 2013).

Frozen sperm, eggs and embryos

The frozen sperm, the frozen eggs and the frozen embryo played a major role the IVF infertility process. This process was invented as in the past there was huge chance for the damage of the thawing eggs and embryos. By applying the freezing technique the process was made easier. The use of frozen embryos sometimes proved to be advantageous rather than using the fresh embryos. The separation of the ovarian stimulation and the retrieval of the procedure from the transfer of the embryos allow the reproductive system to come to rest (Hanefeld, et al. 2015).

Single embryo transfers

In the earlier stages of IVF, the fertilized eggs were cultured in the lab before transferring into the uterus of the woman. More than three embryos were transferred into the uterus of the woman as it was difficult to understand which embryo would react (Nahman 2016). In the later years there was an increased understanding of the nutritional needs of the developing embryos. It led to the blastocyst stage, which included the fertilization after five to six days. It is more advanced than a three-day embryo and not only this, it is also easier for the genetic health, and it is more feasible to implant after the transfer. It was possible to offer single embryo transfers to the patients as it highly reduced the risk of the multiple pregnancies (Hanefeld, et al. 2014).

ICSI

The intracytoplasmic sperm injection is another advanced procedure in which an embryologist injects the sperm into an egg externally (Kindregan and White 2013). It is performed carefully under the microscope under special care. It is an effective system in this process. It has become an effective tool for the treatment of male factor infertility. One of the major reasons of infertility is the poor quality of sperm. This process is designed for the ones whose sperms are of low quality and are unable to achieve fertilization. This is an effective factor of the fertility tourism. These processes are not available everywhere. They are available only in the developed areas. This is the reason the fertility tourism is so popular (Howard 2014).

Fertility Treatment in the United States

The concept is new and innovative. Earlier the fertility problem was considered as a serious problem, but in today`s world it is not at all a serious problem. There are highly equipped way to tackle this problem. It has gained lot of popularity and demand. The unique thing about the concept is that it saves the cost factor. According to this concept every individual travels to some other country for the sake of reasonable treatment. The women of United States and United Kingdom travels to some other country to avail the IBV treatment as these are costly in USA and UK (Kroløkke, et al. 2015.).

Another unique factor of this system is the selection of the sex which is illegal in many countries. Through this process the selection of sex is done in those regions where it is legal. Some women who want to be sure of the sex of the child may travel to the countries where it is legal to perform a preimplantation genetic diagnosis. It is available only in some selected countries. This is one of the prime reasons of fertility tourism (Lunt, Horsfall, and Hanefeld 2016).

In many countries there is no restriction imposed on the number of embryos that can be transferred inside the uterus at the same time. It however increases the risk of multiple pregnancies. The risk of multiple births generated by placing too many embryos is carried by the home country (Lunt, et al. 2014). It is a great risk on the part of the home country. The patients also get harassed because of this. Ultimately they have to suffer because of the patient is the one who needs to carry the embryo home. The multiple pregnancies involve a lot of risk with it. It is not safe as well as it is harmful. In some countries it is illegal.

Another feature that can be added in the list of uniqueness of this concept is the feature of egg donation. It is illegal in a number of European countries. Therefore, many women go out to seek treatment in the places where this procedure is legal and allowed. This is the reason of the travel of the women in some other place for attaining the treatment through the process of egg donation. It has the capacity to give the right to the women to conceive who are unable to do the same. This quality makes it innovative in itself (Lunt, et al. 2013).

Advanced Fertility Treatment Procedures

This concept is highly in demand in today`s world. The increasing pollution and the adverse environmental factors have resulted in the increasing fertility rates in today`s world. It is one of the most growing niche markets within medical travel. Through an analysis of the calculation and estimation done it has been found that more than five million babies have been borne through the process of IVF and the related techniques. The demand is because of the variation in the legal requirements in different countries (Mariner 2017). The patients in most of the times want to seek the clinical expertise available in many countries. It is in demand as sometimes it has been observed that there has been lack of access to the treatment because of the lack of sperm and the egg donors in the home country, therefore the patients travel outside the home country for attaining the treatment. This is the reason the fertility tourism has become so popular. It has become an easy process as the treatment has become easily accessible to people of all categories so that everybody can afford. It is a trend in today`s world (Invitra.com, usa, fertility-tourism-in-the-u. 2017). The treatment is attractive and it is feasible for maximum people. Nowadays the treatment includes the special facilities of accommodations. The patients who intend to go for the treatment gets easy and free accommodations in the institutions where the patients go to seek the treatment. This has increased the demand of this technique.

Conclusion

In spite of the advantages it has there are various issues related to this. A number of concerns have been raised by the legislators, the social workers and the clinicians. The concerns are regarding the quality of the treatment. It includes the concern of safety, donor information, the cost and the exploitation of both the donors and the patients. However these issues have been put under control and it has been regulated to a greater extent. To bring about a logical conclusion of this concept this can be recommended that the process should be more fabricated and transparent. The process should be more accessible in the home countries. Though the concept is unique but it would surely be better for the patients to get the facilities of treatment in their home countries rather than in some other country where they need to travel. After all it is more comfortable to attain the medical treatment in the home country than in some other country. The reason of the unavailability of the new and reasonable techniques in the home country is the increasing pressure on the domestic healthcare systems. The lack of this will increase the growth of medical travel. The option of safe and effective treatment should be the major aim of the process. However, this process has become famous and slowly it is growing in the markets. The process was initially not famous as it was not that accessible. Now it is accessible to larger population. The process is now comparatively reasonable and is available in many countries. Initially it was not available in all the countries but now it is available in many countries. This problem was less in number in the earlier times, this is the reason it is not famous. Due to some environmental factors this problem has taken a major rise and therefore it has compelled many women to undergo these processes. 

Popularity and Demand of Fertility Tourism

References

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