This article appears in the following ESHRE Monographs issue: ESHRE Special Task Force on 'Developing Countries and Infertility' [View the issue table of contents]
Four years of IVF/ICSI experience in Kampala (Uganda)
1 Centre for Reproductive Medicine, University Hospital, Dutch-speaking Brussels Free University (vrije universiteit Brussel), Brussels, Belgium
2 G-Systems ltd, House 51, Gwarimpa Abuja, Nigeria
3 Women’s Hospital International, PO Box 16233, Kampala, Uganda
4Correspondence address. Zonlaan 49, 1700 Dilbeek, Belgium. E-mail: peterplatteau{at}telenet.be
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Abstract |
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We all know that starting and running an ART clinic is not so easy as some people might perceive from outside. Doing the same thing in the middle of Africa is even more challenging as some evidences in the Western world are not so obvious in this part of the world. We started our clinic in Kampala in 2004. The clinic was a converted apartment from a four flat building. In the beginning, we had difficulties with importing drugs, culture media and consumables; we had the feeling everybody was against us. We overcame multiple power failures, night intruders and a 20% masturbation failure, but once the first IVF/ICSI babies were born, people started to believe in the project. At present, 
250 IVF/ICSI cycles a year are done in batches, we have a successful embryo freezing programme, offer IUI/ICSI for sero discordant HIV couples and have the first babies after IVF, ICSI, testicular biopsy, embryo freezing, oocyte donation and surrogacy in Central Africa. The results are comparable to the ones in the Western world.
Keywords: IVF; ICSI; Uganda; first IVF baby