CONTRARY to the notion that infertility in couples is mainly due to health problems in women, a medical expert, Professor Ayo Arowojolu has attributed this partly to infrequent sex among couples.

Professor Arowojolu stated this in a valedictory lecture entitled “In search of the causes of unexplainable fertility in Nigerian men”, which he gave in honour of Professor Abiodun Ilesanmi, the outgoing Chief Medical Director of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

According to the expert, “if a couple do not have sex at least three to four times a week to ensure they maintained the desired closeness, they cannot be sure to have a child.”

Professor Arowojolu declared, “the woman ovulates one day in a month and you do not know the day. You might calculate the fertile period and by the time she gets to that fertile period, the man might be too tired or out of town due to work.”

He added, “but with sex at least three to four times a week, the chances of getting pregnant is higher if they meet once a week or say at weekends.”

Professor Arowojolu while attributing the cause of infertility to men in one out of every three cases, declared “infections such as gonorrhea and Chlamydia are the major reasons causes of infertility in men in Nigeria. This is because men still practice unprotected sex.”

He reiterated, “unfortunately, Chlamydia unlike gonorrhea does not show itself until it has done a lot of damage in the body, including blocking the fallopian tubes in the woman.”

The expert also attributed some unexplainable cases of infertility in men to the high level of pollutants such as lead, selenium and cadmium in the environment.

According to him, “the lead content of the Nigerian environment is higher than what is acceptable all over the world. evidence has shown that lead is one of the causal factors for infertility in men. Lead affects fertility by destroying the sperm, testes and the prostate. It also affects the kidneys. “

He linked Nigeria's high level of lead content with the use of leaded petrol, indiscriminate citing of petrol stations, battery chargers activities and foundries, poor disposal of industrial wastes.

Professor Arowojolu reiterated the need for government to intensify efforts at checking cigarette smoking, especially among the adolescents because of its effect on fertility.

Earlier at the occasion, Chairman UCH board management, Dr Sonny Kuku extolled the contributions of Professor Ilesanmi to the development of the hospital, adding that his greatest achievement would be the hospital's museum when completed.