According to the European Society for Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE), which is currently holding its congress in Istanbul, 350,000 babies are now conceived each year by in vitro fertilization, or 0.3% of the 130 million children born in the world.
The figure of 5 million IVF babies is based on in vitro fertilization (IVF) figures recorded around the world from 1978 to 2008, and on estimates for the following three and a half years, for which no official statistics are yet available.
The object of heated controversy in its early days, assisted reproduction has established itself over the years as an effective treatment for many couples who suffer from infertility .
“The techniques have improved greatly over the years with rising pregnancy rates. Babies who are born are as healthy as infertile parents who conceived spontaneously“, notes Dr David Adamson, chairman of the International Committee for the Monitoring of PMA (medically assisted procreation).
For Dr Simon Fishel, a British fertility specialist, the crossing of the milestone of 5 million test tube babies “justifies all legal and moral battles, ethical debates, and hard-won societal approval“.
According to figures provided in Istanbul, nearly 1.5 million IVF in the broad sense (including the ICSI technique, the direct micro-injection of a sperm into the oocyte) are performed each year around the world. including a third in Europe. The success rate of a treatment cycle has stabilized at 32% pregnancy rate per embryo transferred.
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ESHRE also notes efforts to avoid multiple pregnancies, with the implantation of fewer embryos in Europe, and even more and more often of a single embryo. The number of triplets born following IVF has suddenly fallen to less than 1% and that of twins to just below 20%.