Mrs. Stella Atinuke Odesanmi, owner of VAKS Health Clinic, is a retired Matron (Nursing/Midwifery).
She has been practicing in Nigeria since 1988, and has been able to work in several hospitals, with so many medical and gynaecological cases, handled both physically and spiritually.

Mrs. Stella who is the wife of a pastor in Redeemed Christian Church of God has put smile on the faces of so many families both home and abroad. Her health institution manages cases like fibroid, ovarian cysts, lump in the breasts or abcess in any other part of the body, prostate enlargement without surgery, low sperm count, tubal blockages with hormonal imbalance and others.

In this interview, explains the possible causes of infertility in men and women, what they can do to prevent it, solutions and what parents can do so that their children, when they become adults, will not have the challenge

Infertility is a problem that threatens matrimony all over the world now. Will you say it is on the increase?

Yes, it is totally on the increase. All around us these days, quite a number of marriages on daily basis are breaking up solely on the fact that they have no children, especially in Africa where we attach a lot of importance to childbearing.

Many believe that some causes are self-inflicted while others could be hereditary. Kindly speak on these two.

The truth is it can be both ways. I will address the self inflicted causes first, which includes those that have done one abortion or the other, or have had infections of the vagina that probably travelled to the tubes due to the negligence of their personal hygiene. However, some causes could be said to be hereditary due to the type or level of reproductive hormones a woman has in her system. Also, some of those that have fibroid in their uterus often inherit them from their genetic makeup. I have handled cases where virtually all female in the family had fibroid.

What are the natural causes?

The natural causes can be triggered by the type of food we eat, some of these foods can cause hormonal imbalance. Also, fibroid growth has been linked to eating some type of food, especially food rich in white flour. Some with incompatible blood rhesus factor may also find it difficult to get pregnant.

In Africa, the problem of infertility is blamed on women. Whereas, men could also have a problem. Kindly enlighten readers on this…

Women are not always responsible for infertility in marriages, men could also have their problems varying from low sperm count (oligospermia) or no sperm at all (azoospermia), to having testicular torsion or prostate enlargement or infection of the reproductive organs like gonorrhea, staphylococcus etc. These can lead to the above conditions in men, thereby, preventing them from impregnating a women.

Infertility could be a traumatic experience for couples. In-laws will come with their troubles. How can they couples cope with the emotional trauma?

I strongly advise couples to have genuine love for each other, because having children is not the sole purpose of marriage and it is in the atmosphere of love that children come. However, when in-laws come with their pressures, which is not in all cases , the couple should pray and seek medical advice so that their reproach can be taken away.

From the beginning, what advice do you want to give parents in order to guide their children not to fall victim of the crisis?

As a mother like myself, I advise parents to teach their children sex education and prevention of sex before marriage that has led a lot of young girls to abortions, leading to damaged (perforated) uterus. Even boys could have chronic veneral diseases leading to low sperm count or even total damage to their sperm cells. Hence, the need to advice the boys too.

What can ladies do to prevent it, especially talking about those that are not natural or hereditary?

The ladies are advised to take their personal hygiene serious, so as to prevent them from contracting all forms of infections which may block their tubes. They are also advised to stay away from abortion, especially criminal abortions. In addition to that, drugs taken to prevent pregnancies can lead to infertility, especially post-coital pills(taken too regularly) . I strongly advise that in cases of unwanted pregnancies, the baby should be delivered. Not forgetting the fact that a lot of ladies have lost their lives in the process of abortion.

What can men do in order not to have the problem of infertility?

Men should stay away from promiscuity(having sexual intercourse with multiple women) which may lead to infections that can damage sperm cells. I advise that married men should stick to their wives , likewise, young men should operate on ‘’no sex before marriage’’

Now talking about seeking helps medically, your clinic deals with infertility problem. Kindly talk about this…

In VAKS HEALTH we deal with all cases of infertility in both men and women. I can say it is a divine assignment because God is involved in what we do and we record a very high success rate.

Cases such as tubal blockage, fibroid, lump in the breast, ovarian cyst, prostate enlargement are treated without surgery in our clinic. In addition, we have books on infertility which have helped so many families.

Is yours a combination of orthodox and alternative?

Yes, in VAKS HEALTH we use both orthodox and natural drugs. In some cases , orthodox alone and in some other ones we combine both. Our focus is just getting the result we want and putting smiles on the faces of families.

What is the success rate of your clinic?

Our success rate is about 90%, excluding those that have congenital cases. For example, absence of tubes, uterus, or ovaries, or those that have totally damaged uterus (although not doubting the power of divine healing).

Do you treat men who have infertility problem?

We treat men also as stated earlier, especially those with erectile dysfunction, oligospermia(low sperm count), aazospermia(no sperm count), prostate enlargement, hormonal imbalance in men, low libido in men. etc.

By Stella Atinuke Odesanmi