What do Male Students at the College of Medicine of the University of Malawi Say About Semen Donation?

Abstract

Aim This study was aimed at assessing knowledge and attitude to semen donation among male students at the College of Medicine. Methods A semi-structured questionnaire survey of students doing Pre-Medical Sciences, MBBS, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, and Medical Laboratory Science degrees at the College of Medicine. There were 180 respondents who took part in this study. Their ages ranged from 15 to 43 years with a mean of 21.21 years. Results A total of 130 (72.2%) of the respondents were aware of the practice of sperm donation for research purposes or the treatment of infertility while 50 students had never heard of it. A total of 86 (47.8%) students reported their willingness to donate their semen. The main motivation for wanting to donate sperm was to get paid. The leading factors which discouraged the respondents from donating semen were that the practice was either against their religious belief (42.6%), or that they were not comfortable with the practice of semen donation because it was morally wrong (50%). Conclusion Despite having the high level of awareness of semen donation among male students of the College of Medicine, more than half of them were unfavourably disposed to it. Public enlightenment through the mass media and correction of false notions about semen donation will go a long way in addressing this problem. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2013; 12(1.000): 75-78

Non-donors’ attitudes towards sperm donation and their willingness to donate

“…In the systematic overview by Van den Broeck [2], only one study focused exclusively on non-donors and two studies included both nondonors and actual or potential donors. After a thorough search, some additional studies on attitudes of non-donors were found: Lampiao, 2013 [3] in Malawi, Hedrih and Hedrih, 2012 [4] in Serbia and Onah et al, 2008 [5] in Nigeria. These studies came from countries in which few studies are performed about assisted reproduction.…”

Acceptability of Gametes Donation in Côte d’Ivoire

“…More than 3/4 of the couples have a long-lasting infertility. We have noticed a very long medical cursus, as in all the studies conducted in developing countries [6] [7] (Table 4).…”

Türk insanının oosit ve sperm bağışı hakkındaki görüşleri

“…Oocyte donation can be a good treatment option incancer treatment, premature ovarian failure, peri-and postmenopausal women, carriers of severe X-linked diseases, inefficient oocytes and/or unqualified embryo and failures in previous interventions and/or more than one failures. However, lack of awareness and misconceptions about sperm donation have negative effects 5 . In addition, due to cultural beliefs and norms considering sperms as keys for transmission of ancestry and kinship, sperm donation is not considered as sexually and morally acceptable 6 .However, in Kuwait, a Muslim country, it is legal to freeze sperms.…”