• IVF cheaper in Nigeria despite high treatment costs

• Experts seek regulation, insurance coverage, local production of fertility drugs

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Nigeria is increasingly attracting fertility patients from other parts of Africa and the global diaspora for in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) and other assisted reproductive treatments because of the comparatively lower cost of treatment in the country, fertility experts have disclosed.

The experts, who described the development as a form of “reverse medical tourism,” said Nigeria had developed sufficient capacity to provide advanced fertility treatment, despite the high cost of IVF and the country’s dependence on imported drugs and other materials required for the procedures.