ASPIRE is moving to a new digital breaking news format

ASPIRE is committed to keeping members informed about news and events that reflect latest developments and future trends in assisted reproduction.

Traditionally, we have presented the ASPIRE Newsletter as a key aspect of our communications delivering news, commentary, reports from our country representatives and Special Interest Groups along with vital information on education programs, accreditation, upcoming events and membership.

However, ASPIRE recognises that the way people engage with news is changing with a greater focus on accessing information in digital formats and mobile environments. News is no longer something people seek out at set times. It is now embedded within a more fluid domain in which people want news that is more flexible, accessible and personally relevant.

ASPIRE is embracing this change by moving from our traditional newsletter to a breaking news, digital format that members will be able to access on our website and social media channels. This is timely given that ASPIRE has also refreshed its website to make it easier for people to navigate our resources.

From July, ASPIRE will be regularly posting news updates, country and SIG reports and other vital details on education, professional development and events that will keep members abreast of information that reflects and guides best practice in fertility health and assisted reproduction.

As President, Dr Haroon Latif, says “our future lies in networking” as ASPIRE builds to become one of the world’s biggest and most influential societies in assisted reproduction with dynamic awareness programs and communication technologies reaching participants across the globe.

We welcome input and comments from members on this change to our digital platforms and distribution channels for the discovery and consumption of news and information that matters.

ASPIRE Secretariat
E-mail: secretariat@aspire-reproduction.org
www.aspire-reproduction.org

Fertility patients vulnerable to social media overload of misleading data where evidence and algorithms collide

Media Release, 7 May 2026

BEIJING: Patient information overload dominated by misleading social media and marketing is causing patients experiencing infertility to have unrealistic expectations about treatment success often resulting in psychological distress.

“Never before have patients had so much information on fertility medicine, and never before has so much of it been wrong, incomplete or misinterpreted,” said Indian fertility specialist, Dr Madhuri Patil.

“Fertility medicine has changed in the age of information overload where data, anecdotes and algorithms collide.

“The information ecosystem is dominated by social media influencers, commercial marketing and clinic marketing, online forums, patient communities and non-peer reviewed sources.

“Misinformation can impact on patient treatment expectations, timing decisions, treatment adherence and doctor-patient trust.

“Fertility care is uniquely vulnerable. There are high emotional and financial stakes for patients striving for parenthood, and treatment expectations based on misinformation or misinterpretation can result in psychological distress and drop-out from treatment.”

Speaking at the 2026 Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) in Beijing, Dr Patil said the types of misinformation included:

• overestimation of IVF success rates;

• misinterpretation of age-related fertility decline;

• misunderstanding ovarian reserve testing;

• so-called natural or alternative therapies with unproven efficacy;

• add-on treatments marketed without strong evidence; and

• assumptions that elective egg freezing guarantees fertility.

“These issues matter because of the rapid growth of assisted reproductive technology and fertility services globally,” she said.

“Misinformation is no longer on the fringe. It is mainstream and patients are arriving at fertility clinics armed with half-truths, over generalised statistics and misplaced certainty.”

Dr Patil is a Bangalore-based fertility specialist, country representative to ASPIRE and former Chair of the ASPIRE Special Interest Group on Reproductive Endocrinology. She is President-elect of the Indian Society for Assisted Reproduction (ISAR) and Associate Editor of Fertility and Sterility, the official publication of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM).

She said counselling in assisted reproductive technology fails when population data averages are presented as individual treatment predictions.

“IVF is often a multi-cycle treatment,” Dr Patil explained. “Cumulative live birth rates – rather than IVF success rates reported per transfer – better reflect patient prognosis.

“Evidence must be interpreted for the individual patient, not an algorithm that may be technically correct, but clinically misleading.

“Social media amplification in particular results in emotional narratives outweighing statistical reality, IVF success stories being over-represented, simplified messaging and commercial bias.

“This results in patients having pre-formed treatment demands with significant clinical and personal consequences, including increased anxiety, decisional conflict and dropout.”

Dr Patil said it was important for fertility clinics to embrace a counselling framework in which:

• patients are asked what they believe about treatment;

• misinformation sources are identified;

• emotional concerns are validated;

• treatment options are reframed with evidence; and

• patients are provided with individualised prognosis.

“This is the recommended approach to evidence-based fertility care,” she said.

“It also requires standardised and transparent reporting metrics across clinics, regulation of fertility-related advertising, public education with improved patient decision aids, and fertility specialists occupying the digital space with accurate and consistent evidence-based messaging.”

Around 3,000 fertility specialists from across the globe are attending the ASPIRE Congress, which is being held at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing from 7 to 10 May.

Further information, go to https://www.aspire2026.com

INTERVIEW:

Dr Madhuri Patil is available for interview. To arrange, please contact Trevor Gill, ASPIRE Congress Media Relations Tel: (Australia) 61 418 821948 or email lighthousepr@adelaide.on.net

Plummeting fertility rates and ageing societies will see nurseries replaced by nursing homes

Media Release, 18 May 2026

The world is entering an epoch in which baby nurseries will be progressively replaced by nursing homes creating an enormous burden on young workers to generate taxable income to support swelling ranks of the elderly.

This grim forecast has been presented at a global conference on assisted reproduction as countries around the world face alarming falls in total fertility rates.

Speaking at the 2026 Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) in Beijing, Bangladeshi fertility specialist Professor Nusrat Mahmud said population fertility health was in crisis on multiple fronts primarily from negative effects of climate change, pollutants and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).

She said there was growing awareness that global warming could negatively influence reproductive health in men and women with links to sperm abnormalities and abnormal ovulation.

Professor Mahmud, a senior consultant in the Division of Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at Birdem General Hospital in Dhaka, said the World Health Organisation projected 250,000 additional deaths from climate sensitive diseases between 2030 and 2050.

She told the ASPIRE Congress the true impacts on human reproductive health through global warming and exposure to environmental and occupational pollutants and EDCs were not fully understood.

But Professor Mahmud particularly highlighted a likely nexus between the “warming world” and pollutants with a sharp decline in male sperm counts along with increasing levels of sperm fragmentation associated with poor embryo development and recurrent miscarriages.

“Evidence suggests sperm counts have fallen by over 50 per cent in the past forty years,” she said. “The average male today may face different fertility challenges to the average male of two generations ago.

“The big question is no longer whether this so called spermageddon is really happening, but why and what can we do about it?

“Ignoring the potential decline in semen quality and its causes can lead to irreversible damage to human and planetary health with trans-generational impacts.”

Total fertility rates across the world are plummeting, particularly in the Asia Pacific region where the number of births has fallen below population replacement levels.

This poses serious social and economic challenges as population age dependency increases and there are fewer young people to support aged care economic demands.

Professor Mahmud has specialised in research on climate change on infertility in the South Asian region.

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. It is ranked second in global exposure to elevated temperatures with Dhaka especially singled out for urban heat.

The Birdem Hospital in Dhaka has collaborated with the Emory University in the United States in a study on a decline in semen parameters, including sperm concentration and motility among Bangladeshi men and similar observations in the global community.

“Azoospermia, or total absence of sperm in a man’s ejaculate, has been consistently increasing among Bangladeshi men for the past two decades,” Professor Mahmud said.

“We have done another study with data collected from Pakistan and India and there were higher trends of azoospermia in Bangladeshi men than among their neighbours.

“Male infertility is a complex biological and social phenomenon, and the world must act on the impacts of global warming, environmental pollutants and EDCs.”

Over 3,000 fertility specialists from across the globe attended the ASPIRE Congress in Beijing.

Further information, go to https://www.aspire2026.com

INTERVIEW:

Professor Nusrat Mahmud is available for interview. To arrange, please contact Trevor Gill, ASPIRE Congress Media Relations Tel: (Australia) 61 418 821948 or email lighthousepr@adelaide.on.net