(National Pulse) A “staggering” one in six people now suffer infertility issues, the World Health Organization (WHO) has admitted.
“Globally, an estimated one out of every six people are affected by the inability to have a child at some point in their life,” confirmed Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the controversial director-general of the United Nations agency, in the foreword to its new report on infertility.
Dr. Pascale Allotey, director of the Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research Department at the WHO, called the figure “staggering” and declared infertility “a major and a widespread health issue”.
The WHO found the issue is somewhat more prevalent in so-called high-income countries, at 17.8 per cent, than in low- and middle-income countries, at 16.5 per cent.
Tedros offered few comments on the underlying causes of the crisis, describing them in vague terms as “varied and often complex” before moving on to pet issues of dubious relevance such as the agency’s “health and gender equality targets” – but the findings come as men appear to be suffering alarming drops in sperm counts and testosterone levels.
‘Spermageddon’.
Writing for The National Pulse in November, anonymous health campaigner ‘Raw Egg Nationalist’ cautioned against an impending “spermageddon” scenario — citing research even covered by the likes of CNN — showing sperm counts falling by over 50 percent in fewer than 50 years, to the point that the “median man” may have a sperm count near zero as soon as 2050.
“Our findings serve as a canary in a coal mine. We have a serious problem on our hands that, if not mitigated, could threaten mankind’s survival,” warned lead researcher Hagai Levine of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Testosterone levels are also falling — although self-appointed “fact-checkers” have begun splitting hairs over the details since conservatives began to sound alarm bells over the situation — with researchers reporting a significant decline among American adolescents and young men between 1999 and 2016.
Cause for Celebration?
The WHO report comes at a time when the number of people having families — and the size of those families — is shrinking through much of the West, in any case.
