More than one in every four people who underwent IVF treatment in 2022 successfully got pregnant as a result of the fertility treatment, a report published on Tuesday revealed.
A total of 274 in-vitro fertilization cycles were carried out that year, resulting in 90 pregnancies. Ultimately, 32 babies were born while another 44 pregnancies are still ongoing, resulting in a ‘take home baby rate’ of 27.74 per cent.
That represents a 7.12 per cent increase over the 2021 rate and a 12.3 per cent increase over the success rate registered in 2020.
68 per cent increase in applications
The report, issued by the Embryo Protection Authority (EPA), noted a dramatic increase in interest in fertility treatments last year.
The EPA received 1,513 applications for fertility treatments that year, with all but three approved.
The figure represents a massive 68 per cent increase over 2021 and continues the years-long trend of interest in such treatments increasing. In 2019, there were just 513 applications for fertility treatments.
Malta has Europe's lowest fertility rate at 1.13 births per woman, and the matter has been flagged as a long-term concern for the country's economy.
Treatments logged by the EPA ranged from IVF and cryopreserved embryo treatment cycles to oocyte stimulation, Intra Uterine Inseminations (IUI) and sperm freezing.
Five pregnancies were registered as a result of IUI treatment involving a partner’s sperm, with a further three pregnancies as a result of sperm donated by a donor. In total, 23 foreign sperm donors were approved in Malta.
The EPA report was presented to Health Minister Chris Fearne, who praised the EPA for its work and emphasised the importance of changes to IVF laws which broadened the availability of fertility services.
The law was amended twice in recent years, in 2018 and 2022. Fearne said those amendments had allowed 316 additional applications for fertility Services.
Since IVF treatment was introduced into the public health service in 2013, 477 babies have been born as a result of the treatment.
The EPA report will be tabled in parliament, the health ministry said.