The Assisted Reproduction Program in Ciego de Ávila shows favorable results in the care of patients with fertility problems and, after the approval of the new Family Code in 2022, it also began to provide services to homosexual couples and single people.

Dr. Marvely Isaac Rodríguez, general coordinator of the program in the province, explained to the Cuban News Agency (ACN) that in each municipality there is a consultation in which new cases are attended and those patients are referred to the Provincial Center for Assisted Reproduction that require access to other techniques.

Last year, in the avilanian territory, 424 couples with fertility problems were treated, 87 artificial inseminations were performed, 301 pregnancies were achieved and 218 children were born, which represents a discreet but sustained increase compared to the figures of previous years.

The couple formed by Marielkys Piñeiro González and Erisdel Soler Ramos is one of those who attest in Ciego de Ávila to the successes of this program, because thanks to that they achieved their dream of conceiving a pregnancy and today they enjoy little Samuel.

Both parents told ACN on the occasion of the baby’s birth, that both the specialists from Ciego de Ávila and those from the province of Cienfuegos accompanied them throughout the process, since in their case they required in vitro fertilization, and they did not give up on Despite several failed attempts,

Within the program, experience and organization have been gained, which translates into a higher quality of care for patients who come to this service and in the achievement of much more favorable results than those existing, for example, in 2018, Isaac Rodriguez declared.

The also official of the Provincial Health Directorate explained that obstetricians, psychologists, nurses, laboratory technicians and, sometimes, endocrinologists, geneticists, urologists and other specialists needed to achieve a truly multidisciplinary treatment participate in the consultations.

After the approval of the new Family Code, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) updated its Assisted Reproduction Regulations, changed the name of the Infertile Couple Care Program to the name it currently has and expanded access to the different reproductive techniques to homoaffective couples and to women and men who live alone.

In this context, in Ciego de Ávila, the first union made up of women that has requested access to assisted reproduction techniques is already being attended to, and the first requests for a solidary womb are also being processed.

According to Minsap data, Cuba is the only country that provides free access to assisted reproduction, it has 168 municipal infertility consultations, 15 provincial ones where some reproductive techniques are performed and four high-tech centers for the most complex cases, which assured national level 28 thousand 640 new pregnancies in the five-year period 2017-2021.

The services of the Assisted Reproduction Program also contribute to the efforts of the country’s leadership to raise the birth rate and improve the adverse demographic situation, marked by population aging.