Infertility is common worldwide. The World Health Organization estimates that one in eight people are affected by the disease.

And although there’s no definitive research, TTIVF and Fertility Centre medical director and consultant gynaecologist Dr Catherine Minto-Bain said it is estimated that this number might be higher for Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean – as many as one in six couples.

The disease is characterised by failure to get pregnant after 12 months of regular, unprotected sexual intercourse. It does not discriminate; it affects people regardless of race, sexuality, economic status, or religion and it is a painful topic that many people prefer not to discuss.

"Infertility is such a hard thing for people to deal with, as there’s so much stigma and shame attached to it," Minto-Bain told Newsday.

But, she said, an inability to conceive can be because of a number of medical reasons and it is nothing to be ashamed of.

"Infertility is often caused by more than one reason...It means that your polycystic ovaries syndrome (PCOS), for example, might not be the only reason you can’t conceive. It might be your PCOS plus your partner’s sperm problems. There are scores of reasons for infertility, and in half of the cases a fertility doctor sees, more than one of those causes is present."

She said there is a very real stigma-based myth that infertility must be the woman’s problem, but it is more often a combination of male and female fertility problems.

"That means if you try to treat infertility by treating the woman only, you undermine your chances of success. You need to be treated as a couple by a fertility specialist who knows about both male and female infertility. It can be challenging but this is why TTIVF works very hard to get treatment off on the right foot by seeing both the male and female partner."

In fact, Minto-Bain said, her research shows in TT in about 50 per cent of infertility cases, the cause of the infertility is found to originate in the man. "This is a complicated statistic – Global research indicates that about one-third of infertility cases are due to male factors, one-third are due to female

factors, and one-third are due to a combination of both male and female factors."

She said the fact that either partner may have had a baby does not preclude infertility.

"Secondary infertility, defined as the inability to conceive or carry a baby to term after previously giving birth, is a real problem in Trinidad and Tobago. Secondary infertility has many different causes, can happen to both men and women and is much more common than you think.

"Worldwide statistics suggest that ten per cent of people have had secondary infertility. A common scenario we see involves a new couple who each have had children with other partners and now want to have a child together and can’t."

Infertility Awareness Week is observed from April 21-27 and this year's theme is Leave Your Mark. Minto Bain said its purpose is to get people become more educated about the disease, with the hope th