News and Updates

Call to create minimum standards of cross border reproductive care in the Asia Pacific region

Media Release, 11 May 2026

Cross border reproductive care is a growing global phenomenon allowing people living with infertility to travel to other countries for donor eggs, sperm, surrogacy or IVF treatment.

It provides an avenue to parenthood for couples striving to conceive but who find that fertility treatments are unavailable, illegal or unaffordable at home.

Restrictive legal frameworks, cultural or religious prohibitions, high treatment costs and long waiting lists can present significant barriers for some couples

But because of a diversity of policies, legal architectures and standards, units offering cross border fertility services in the Asia Pacific region face particular challenges. Protecting uniform quality care, reproductive rights of participants and offspring, and patient autonomy in a transparent way while avoiding exploitation are important challenges.

A global conference on fertility health in Beijing has heard an impassioned call to implement minimal standards in cross border reproductive care in the Asia Pacific and beyond.

Speaking at the 2026 Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE), Thai fertility specialist Professor Kamthorn Pruksananonda also highlighted the importance of equitable access to fertility treatment in local populations.

He said equal treatment access problems could arise when destination country resources in assisted reproduction were redirected towards foreign demand (which may have greater capacity to pay) leaving vulnerable local populations under-served.

“People striving for parenthood seek timely, safe, and affordable ways to build families,” Professor Pruksananonda explained. “Protecting reproductive rights and patient autonomy requires strong safeguards.

“The Asia Pacific region is too diverse for a single fertility law,” he said. “But it is not too diverse for interoperable minimum standards that maximise safety and equity of access to treatment while protecting intended parents, surrogates, donors, and children across jurisdictions.

“When well-regulated and ethically conducted, cross-border IVF exemplifies how globalisation serves medicine offering hope without borders and creating families across frontiers.

“In the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, embracing the opportunities of cross-border fertility treatment while conscientiously addressing its challenges affirms a future where infertility becomes a surmountable obstacle rather than an insurmountable barrier.”

Professor Pruksananonda, said the issue was particularly pressing in the Asia Pacific region where fertility rates are plummeting below population replacement levels with severe economic and social consequences.

He said there were some clear advantages of cross border reproductive treatment including:

• expanded access to care;

• higher treatment success rates through treatment by renowned fertility specialists and clinics, advanced technology and opportunities for multiple IVF cycles;

• more affordable treatment even considering travel and accommodation costs;

• enhanced personal autonomy in family building empowering individuals to circumvent restrictive social norms and realise reproductive rights in supportive environments; and

• knowledge exchange among clinics.

“But standards need to evolve to drive continuous improvement in safety, efficacy and quality patient care,” Professor Pruksananonda added.

“This includes necessary safeguards and policy responses to reduce the risk of exploitation, particularly of surrogates, to provide legal certainty on parentage and citizenship, to ensure consistency of clinic standards and continuity of care, and to overcome disparities in access to fertility care.

“Infertility is a health issue. Low fertility is a demographic issue. These issues intersect politically, but the ethical framework must ensure reproductive choice and equitable care.”

Professor Pruksananonda said the strongest assisted reproductive technology systems like those in Australia and New Zealand treat data auditing, reporting of treatment success rates and accreditation of clinics as key elements of patient protection.”

He told the ASPIRE Congress that Thailand was an exemplar in boldly introducing regulatory reform in cross border reproductive care.

“Thailand emerged as a global fertility tourism destination over a decade ago attracting international patients with advanced clinics, liberal laws and low costs,” he said.

“As a result, thousands of foreign patients accessed commercial surrogacy arrangements in Thailand.

“However, in 2014 an Australian couple abandoned a twin with Down Syndrome born to a Thai surrogate sparking international outrage and exposing a lack of legal protections.

“In 2015 Thailand passed comprehensive legislation outlawing commercial surrogacy and restricting altruistic surrogacy to married Thai couples.

“International patients were redirected to other properly regulated jurisdictions that protect the rights of all involved in cross border fertility care while preventing exploitation.

“Thailand is a classic example of regulatory reversal. A country once associated internationally with permissive cross-border arrangements re-centered assisted reproductive technology within a tightly controlled legal structure.

“The result was not the disappearance of demand, but a redistribution of where and how that demand is expressed.”

The ASPIRE Congress is being held at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing. More than 3,000 scientists, clinicians, nurses and counsellors in assisted reproduction from around the world are attending the Congress.

For further information, go to https://www.aspire2026.com

Interview

Professor Kamthorn Pruksananonda 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

Background

Kamthorn Pruksananonda is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok. He also leads the university’s Reproductive Medicine Division and the Human Embryonic Stem Cells Research Centre. Professor Pruksananonda played a key role in the drafting and implementation of Thailand’s assisted reproductive technology law and related regulations.

Emotional burden of infertility can undermine lifestyle choices that may help women conceive

Media Release, 10 May 2026

The emotional burden of infertility actively undermines the capacity of many women to make sustained lifestyle changes, including weight loss and physical activity, that can improve their chances of becoming pregnant.

A global conference on assisted reproduction in Beijing heard today that the gap between lifestyle recommendations and action among women suffering the emotional stress of infertility was not a matter of willpower, rather a matter of psychology.

Infertility affects one in every six couples worldwide with the causes equally shared between men and women. Professor Anuja Dokras, an internationally renowned researcher and patient advocate in fertility health, said up to 60 per cent of affected women experience mental health challenges including anger, sadness, isolation, shame and guilt.

“Yet only about 20 per cent of them seek professional psychological support,” she told the 2026 Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE).

“Most of these women internalise blame for their inability to conceive and shame predicts emotional eating and health care avoidance.

“Women seeking fertility treatment show significantly higher levels of anxiety, depression and psychiatric disorders than men, and the severity of these conditions is influenced by the cause and duration of infertility, the treatment type and number of failed IVF cycles.”

Professor Dokras is the Executive Director of the Women's Health Centre for Clinical Innovation and the Founder’s Professor of Women’s Health in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She is also the Director of the PENN Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) Centre and specialises in understanding cardiometabolic risk and mental health co-morbidities associated with PCOS.

Professor Dokras said women who were obese or living with metabolic disorders associated with PCOS had significantly lower chances of conceiving than their healthy counterparts.

“In women with PCOS visible symptoms, including hirsutism and weight gain, intensify the dynamics of weight stigma with increased prevalence of disordered eating, anxiety and depression.

“Critically, the clinical encounter itself can reinforce barriers when lifestyle advice is delivered through a weight-centric lens without psychological scaffolding.

“A weight-centric consultation approach is perceived as stigmatising and counterproductive. Clinicians should speak the language of self-care, not weight targets.”

Professor Dokras said evidence-based, integrated lifestyle and psychological support was vital in helping women to overcome barriers to better outcomes in fertility treatment.

“Evidence from randomised controlled trials supports the integration of cognitive behavioural therapy and mindfulness-based interventions alongside lifestyle programs,” she explained.

“They demonstrate significant reductions in depression, anxiety and infertility-specific distress as well as improved quality of life.

“Effective support requires reframing lifestyle change as self-care, screening routinely for psychological distress throughout the treatment cycle, avoiding stigmatising language, and embedding mental health provision within fertility services as standard practice.”

Around 3,000 specialists in fertility health – including scientists, clinicians, nurses and counsellors – are attending the ASPIRE Congress at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing.

For further information, go to https://www.aspire2026.com

Interview

Professor Anuja Dokras 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

Breaking the chain of stigma, shame and blame associated with infertility in some societies

Media Release, 10 May 2026

Assisted reproductive treatments, such as IVF, will not solve the stigma of infertility when families continue to treat the condition as a moral failure.

This is particularly the case in societies where fertility treatments are viewed with suspicion, myths and taboos that generate feelings of shame and guilt among those struggling to conceive.

Stigma associated with IVF and barriers to treatment has come under the spotlight at the 2026 Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) in Beijing.

Pakistani fertility specialist, Professor Yousaf Latif Khan, said infertility in that country affected over 20 per cent of reproductive age married couples, substantially above many general global estimates.

Infertility is defined as the failure to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse, or the inability to carry pregnancies to a live birth. The causes of infertility are equally shared between male and female partners.

However, Professor Khan said in Pakistan there was disproportionate blame on women when there were conception issues.

“Women bear the brunt of infertility in most social settings, even where the cause may be male, female, combined or unexplained,” he said.

“Childbearing in Pakistan is strongly linked with marital stability, womanhood, family continuity and old age security.

“Delayed conception after marriage may trigger pressure long before the technical clinical threshold is reached.

“Secondary infertility, where a woman is unable to conceive after one previous childbirth, carries unique stigma because families may expect additional children, especially sons.”

Yousaf Latif Khan is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Rashid Latif Medical College in Lahore.

He said Pakistan’s infertility challenge was a systems problem while cost, misconceptions and misinformation about fertility treatment often reduce timely access to care.

“A clinically defined condition can become a household-level crisis and a primary site of suffering under certain social expectations,” he explained.

“Stigma is a chain of interpretation, blame, isolation and coercion. Interventions must break the chain at multiple points combining improved public awareness, clinical capacity, affordability, legal clarity, counselling and data monitoring into one reproductive health strategy.

“Delayed medical care increases cost, reduces trust and allows misinformation to fill the gap left by formal services. Out-of-pocket IVF costs also create inequity where reproductive hope becomes available primarily to higher-income households.

“Additionally, lack of professional counselling can convert a treatable reproductive issue into marital conflict and family breakdown.

“Pakistan has clinical capability but lacks integrated policy architecture in fertility health care. The main constraint is not absence of IVF knowledge. It is access, trust, governance and social acceptance.

“Importantly, medical treatment alone will not solve stigma if families and societies continue to treat infertility as moral failure.”

Around 3,000 specialists in fertility health – including scientists, clinicians, nurses and counsellors – are attending the ASPIRE Congress at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing.

For further information, go to https://www.aspire2026.com

Interview

Professor Yousaf Latif Khan 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

Study pinpoints 45 years as the critical threshold for a significant downturn in male fertility

Media Release, 10 May 2026

Forty-five years has been identified as the critical age threshold at which elevated sperm DNA fragmentation significantly reduces fertility potential in men.

High levels of DNA fragmentation, defined as a breakdown of genetic material inside sperm cells, make it harder for sperm to fertilise an egg with other potential adverse outcomes including impaired embryo development and higher miscarriage rates.

Advanced age is an established risk factor for elevated sperm DNA fragmentation with existing studies suggesting a gradual rise as men get older, but the specific age at which it exceeds the clinical brink has been poorly defined.

However, new research being presented at the 2026 Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) in Beijing has revealed the age group in which the high-risk threshold is crossed.

Clinical embryologist Ms Yixin Seow said 45 to 49-year-old men had been identified as the age group when a significant rise in sperm DNA fragmentation occurs compared to all younger cohorts.

Her research team conducted a retrospective analysis of sperm DNA fragmentation records at a major Malaysian fertility centre with 249 subjects stratified into five age groups from 30 years to 50-plus years.

“The outcome confirmed gradual increases in DNA fragmentation across the age groups, but most noticeably from age 45, after which it plateaus with minimal further increase in men over the age of 50,” Ms Seow said.

“While larger prospective studies are warranted, our research has clearly shown the age group where there is marked downturn in fertility potential.

“We recommend counselling of patients participating in assisted reproductive technology about the potential impact of advancing male age on likely success of conception and ongoing pregnancy

“Additionally, men aged 45-plus should consider sperm DNA fragmentation testing.”

Infertility affects one in every six couples around the world. It is defined as the failure to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse, or the inability to carry pregnancies to a live birth. The causes of infertility are equally shared between male and female partners.

The ASPIRE Congress at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing has attracted almost 3,000 scientists, clinicians, nurses and counsellors specialising in assisted reproduction.

It has cast a global spotlight on fertility health in the Asia Pacific region which, like other parts of the world, is experiencing a disturbing downturn in fertility rates.

ASPIRE is a unique Asia Pacific taskforce of specialists in the management of fertility and assisted reproductive technology, and it is dedicated to advancing access to quality treatment for those experiencing infertility across the region.

For further information on the ASPIRE 2026 Congress, go to https://www.aspire2026.com

Interview

Ms Yixin Seow 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

Psychosocial support is vital to help those living with infertility to overcome treatment barriers, including stigmas, myths and taboos about IVF

Media Release, 9 May 2026

Diverse cultural or religious values across the Asia Pacific region mean that many people living with infertility face challenging family or societal attitudes when considering assisted reproductive treatment to achieve their dreams of parenthood.

In many cases infertility generates personal shame and feelings of failure, as well as pressure to maintain family lineage with stigma compounding distress and depression over the struggle to conceive.

In some societies with conservative cultural or religious views, fertility treatments such as IVF are viewed with suspicion and are often associated with myths and taboos.

Globally, one in every six couples experience infertility, which is defined as the failure to conceive after a year of unprotected intercourse, or the inability to carry pregnancies to a live birth. The causes of infertility are equally shared between male and female partners.

The problem is particularly relevant in many APAC countries where birth rates have fallen below population replacement levels creating disturbing socio-economic forecasts about dependencies of ageing populations.

The importance of integrated psychological care for people seeking assisted conception is a major focus of the 2026 Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) being held in Beijing.

Speaking at the Congress, clinical psychologist Associate Professor Sonja Goedeke, said infertility was simultaneously a medical condition and a profound life crisis.

“Furthermore, assisted reproductive treatments may be characterised by prolonged uncertainty, physical burden, relational strain, and repeated exposure to potential loss,” she explained. “Psychological distress – most commonly anxiety, depression, and infertility-related stress – is highly prevalent and not confined to those with pre-existing mental health difficulties.

“Psychological care is not simply an optional adjunct, but an essential component of patient-centred, evidence-based fertility treatment. By providing accurate, evidence-based information and support counsellors can help people feeling overwhelmed.

“Psychological care also strengthens emotional regulation, coping capacity, relational communication, and decision-making, supporting patients to engage more fully in informed consent and complex treatment choices.

“Hearing about other people's experiences and research evidence can address issues of shame and isolation. Professional counselling assists individuals and couples to clarify their values and make decisions in the face of external pressure such as when families hold strong expectations about genetic relatedness or traditional family formation.

“It includes strategies to manage ethical, cultural and identity considerations.”

Sonja Goedeke is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Auckland University of Technology. Her research centres on the psychosocial and ethical dimensions of infertility and assisted reproduction.

She told the ASPIRE Congress: “The central message is clear. Psychological care does not guarantee pregnancy, but it improves the conditions in which successful treatment can occur.

“Integrating routine, responsive psychosocial services into fertility clinics is therefore both clinically justified and ethically imperative.”

Associate Professor Goedeke said despite its evidence-based benefits in assisted reproductive treatment, psychosocial care remains inconsistently integrated into fertility services in the Asia Pacific.

“Barriers can be addressed at several levels, beginning with increasing awareness of why psychosocial care is integral to best-practice assisted reproduction, including its role in decision-making, emotional wellbeing, and long-term family outcomes.

“ASPIRE has taken an important step in this regard through the establishment of its Psychology and Counselling Special Interest Group, which provides professional development opportunities such as webinars and educational talks that are open to all healthcare professionals.”

The ASPIRE Congress at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing has attracted almost 3,000 scientists, clinicians, nurses and counsellors specialising in assisted reproduction.

For further information on the ASPIRE 2026 Congress, go to https://www.aspire2026.com

Interview

Associate Professor Sonja Goedeke 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

South and East Asia identified as hotspots of global warming related impacts on male fertility

Media Release, 9 May 2026

A major new study has shown that South and East Asia dominate patterns of global warming related decline in male fertility with the strongest and most consistent evidence coming from India, Pakistan and the southern parts of China.

The effects of increased environmental temperatures on male reproductive health include declining sperm concentration and motility and increased sperm DNA fragmentation, or genetic damage that can hinder fertilisation and embryo development.

Male related factors account for around 50 per cent of infertility cases around the world and the impact of rising ambient heat on semen parameters raises serious implications across wide areas of Asia where total fertility rates are in serious decline.

Outcomes of the study undertaken by the Taiwan IVF Group and Ton Yen General Hospital, Taiwan (China) in collaboration with Stanford University (USA) are being presented at the 2026 Congress of the Asia Pacific Initiative on Reproduction (ASPIRE) in Beijing.

Research principal and Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University, Dr Jack Yu Jen Huang, MD, PhD, FACOG said: “Given the temperature sensitivity of spermatogenesis, even modest increases in ambient temperature could have cumulative, population-level effects over time.

“As global warming accelerates, male reproductive health may represent an emerging climate sensitive public health concern.”

The testes function optimally at temperatures lower than the internal body heat level, and previous studies have shown elevated scrotal or ambient temperatures can impair sperm production.

The latest research explored global patterns to reveal comparative data across regions. It is based on a systematic review of international studies on temperature exposure and semen parameter trends between 2000 and 2024. Artificial intelligence algorithms and machine learning tools were applied to extract key variables including geographic regions and semen outcomes.

Dr Huang said studies examining occupational heat exposure alone were excluded from the analysis as they reflected localised, job-specific conditions rather than broader climatic trends.

“Our findings therefore represent population level climate associated temperature effects including consistent seasonal variations showing poor semen quality parameters in warmer periods.”

The global patterns on temperature associated lower sperm concentration and motility show South and East Asia as major hot spots of concern followed by the Middle East, Europe and North America.

“South and East Asia are likely more affected due to a combination of factors including higher baseline ambient temperatures and rapid urbanisation that contribute to greater cumulative heat stress on spermatogenesis,” Dr Huang explained.

“With ongoing global warming, chronic heat exposure may increasingly impact male reproductive health.”

Dr Huang said potential approaches to address the issue include:

• increasing public awareness of heat exposure and reproductive health;

• encouraging protective behaviours;

• expanding research integrating climate and reproductive health data; and

• exploring clinical and lifestyle interventions to mitigate heat-related effects.

The research team was assisted by research intern Jeffrey Zi Kang Huang from Taipei American School, particularly in the application of artificial intelligence in biomedical research including AI-assisted data analysis and pattern recognition across global datasets.

“Further longitudinal and mechanistic studies will be important to better define causality and guide interventions,” he added.

The ASPIRE Congress is being held at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing. More than 3,000 scientists, clinicians, nurses and counsellors in assisted reproduction from around the world are attending the Congress.

For further information, go to https://www.aspire2026.com

Interview

Dr Jack Yu Jen Huang 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