A group of Kenyan men on a Nairobi street. Many young men in Kenya are being diagnosed with reduced sperm count daily. [Photo: videoblock.com]
Men in their 20s and 30s have been flocking the urology clinic in Kenyatta National Hospital, and other private institutions in the city and the diagnosis is reduced sperm count.
Dr Gitobu Mburugu, who heads the KNH clinic, has said that he sees at least two patients every week."They talk about the pressure to be men and performance anxiety. Some either change partners seeking more understanding or they opt to suffer in silence," Mburugu told the Nation on Monday.Dr Gitobu is worried because the affected are young men whose sperm counts are supposed to be rich and healthy. He says it would have been less worrisome if older men were involved."With age, sperm counts decline and the sperms also begin to lose their strength to swim in a straight line to fertilise eggs," he notes.Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation described current knowledge of male infertility as 'very low' and called on scientists to put forward projects in this kind of research for funding.There has not been a study that has quantified Kenyan men sperm count drop, except some in 1982 that analysed sperm count from men who masturbated when their wives were pregnant. The aim was to find out whether there is an actual drop or not.