MAKERERE'S FERTILITY BANK HITS A BRICK WALL… Sperm Bank Fails to Progress to Egg Banking
Makerere University's fertility bank in Uganda is struggling to expand its services from sperm storage to egg banking due to a lack of funding. Despite high demand for infertility services, the facility remains limited five years after its inception.
Why it matters
The failure to scale reproductive health infrastructure underscores the challenges of providing advanced medical services in developing healthcare systems.
Five years after it opened with big plans of addressing the rising fertility challenges in the country, the Makerere University run bio-bank has not extended its services beyond storing sperms.
Prof Moses Joloba, the Molecular Biologist who heads the bank, told URN that while they had secured funding to sustain sperm banking, they are still unable to start storing eggs for females as they have failed to secure money to build the storage facility.
The bank based at Makerere University hospital opened in 2021 as a pilot but with plans then to expand it alongside the operationalization of organ transplant services at Mulago National Referral Hospital. However, while the transplant service opened in 2023, the bank has not made significant progress despite the big need occasioned by the rising challenges of infertility among both men and women in Uganda.
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