Taiwan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world at around one child per couple. Infertility is also on the rise with one in seven couples facing infertility problems. A doctor of reproductive medicine has suggestions for couples dealing with infertility.
There is a traditional belief in Taiwan that if a woman were to put a golden spade facing up under her bed, she would become pregnant with a baby boy. If she were to put it facing down, she would have a baby girl.
But Dr. Ho Hsin-yi of the Taiwanese Society for Reproductive Medicine said instead of wasting time on such superstitious practices, people should be going to the doctor.
Infertility has been on the rise in Taiwan. Government statistics show that with every seven married couples, there is one couple who cannot have babies. But these couples often don’t go to the doctor to get help. Most people believe the common myth that if they’re healthy, then their reproductive organs must be healthy too. Or they use folk remedies to deal with infertility. Sometimes, the husbands think the problem couldn’t lie with them so the wives end up going through a lot of scrutiny and tests alone.
Doctors suggest that couples who wish to have babies should try to do so when their bodies are most fertile, before turning 33. That goes for both the husbands and the wives. They say that will give parents a better chance of having healthy babies.