Infertility

Africa is a land of many large families, but, as in all the world, not everyone is successful in having kids. In some communities in Africa, that can bring shame, and less respect. Some couples are trying fertility treatments, but even with subsidies it’s incredibly expensive.

The assignment I received from The World seemed simple enough: produce a video about a woman who is unable to have children. My job was to explore the emotional impact of infertility in South Africa, and to show how one individual has coped.

Across Africa, many HIV-positive women would like to have children, but they face a dilemma: How can they become pregnant without putting their partners at risk? Dr. Okeoma Mmeje, an ob-gyn at the University of Michigan, offers an inexpensive solution.

Beauty Sqalane lives outside Cape Town, South Africa. When she learned she could not get pregnant, she was devastated. Then she found a way to bring children into her life.

In Africa’s child-centered cultures, women who cannot give birth often endure stigma, scorn, and social isolation. A rare clinic in South Africa offers high-tech fertility treatment to those of low-income.