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Pamela Shumba
A US$10 000 grant is up for grabs for partners that have been struggling to have babies but want to try the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART).
The grant will be divided into US$5 000 each for “deserving beneficiaries” and is sponsored by the America-based Kiri na Kiri Fertility Assistance Foundation.
The foundation is headed by a Bulawayo-born woman Munyenyiwa Coughlan and her husband Chris Coughlan who successfully used the method, having failed to conceive for close to a decade.
“My husband and I have set aside a grant where two families will be blessed with the fertility fund in April 2019 directly from Kiri na Kiri. The grants will go towards the payment of the services to be offered at the BART centre in Bulawayo,” said Mrs Munyenyiwa Coughlan.
The Bulawayo Assisted Reproductive Technology (BART) run by Dr Jephat Moyo is the second such clinic in the country and only one in Bulawayo. Last year it claimed to have helped 17 couples have children in its year of inception.
Invitro fertilisation (IVF) is the most common and most effective type of assisted reproductive technology (ART) to help women become pregnant.
The IVF procedure involves fertilising an egg outside the body, in a laboratory dish, and then implanting it in a woman’s uterus. However, IVF has proven to be beyond the reach of many couples in the country, with only a few having access to the procedure.
Mrs Coughlan said she was inspired to help couples struggling to conceive after she and her husband spent a number of years trying to conceive.
“Apart from opening up about our pain, my husband and I felt that we needed to start a foundation to help others,” she said.
The eventual beneficiaries will get one free IVF cycle including medication, a banquet in Victoria Falls with their guests, the doctors and board members involved, two prenatal massages for the expecting mothers during pregnancy and monthly prenatal vitamins.
The package also includes free counselling from professional counsellors before and during treatment and pregnancy, a monthly fruit and vegetable basket, baby care package with clothes, toys and three months supply of diapers and wipes after baby’s arrival, a free diaper bag and a pram for the baby.
Interested couples should apply through the Kiri na Kiri foundation website: www.KiriNaKiriFAF.org before going through a selection process by the foundation’s committee and council, where the first two couples will be selected.
She said in future the foundation plans to fund more than five families through fundraisers.
The gynaecologist in charge of the BART centre, Dr Jephat Moyo said the partnership would go a long way in assisting more couples.
“We’re happy with this partnership because it will help us to reach out to many couples who need our services. IVF is quite expensive and it makes it difficult for some couples to access our services. This partnership is therefore a welcome idea,”said Dr Moyo.
He said under the partnership, he would be working with other doctors from around Bulawayo.
Sidumisile Mabena