The Walking
Egg (TWE) is a non-profit organization founded in March 2010 by four members:
Annie Vereecken, Rudi Campo, Willem Ombelet and Koen Vanmechelen. It aims to
bring fertility treatment within reach for all in developing and developed
countries by a multidisciplinary and global.
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| Willem Ombelet, Belgium. |
Infertility
is a cause of distress across countries and in many countries very bad stigma
is attached with-it. WHO quoted that about 10% of women have infertility and per
Dr. Willem Ombelet there are 150 million infertile couples worldwide.
IVF and
other Assisted Reproductive Techniques come at whopping cost that is affordable
to selected few in developing and developed countries. Many couples have known
to sell properties and other assets to go into treatment.
The standard
price of an IVF cycles in most developed countries is around $12,000.
Walking Egg
project was founded with the basic aim of optimizing fertility treatments in
terms of effectiveness, availability and affordability. It also aims to raise global
awareness regarding childlessness and the societal and psychological
implication associated with it.
One of the
biggest obstacle in making IVF affordable to all is the mammoth cost of basic
setup of IVF lab where "in vitro" egg fertilization is brought
around.
Well, the focal
point of the Walking Egg's mission is a simplified system for egg fertilization
and embryo transport. Measured quantity of citric acid and sodium bicarbonate
are mixed in one test tube, the Carbon Dioxide created by the chemical reaction
is led into series of test-tubes housing the culture medium for the embryo. The
CO2 creates the alkaline medium required for the egg fertilization.
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| Aluminium heating block |
To maintain
the perfect temperature for the gametes, Dr Van Blerkom tried many low-cost
techniques like using a thermos or aluminium heating block which worked perfectly,
eliminating high-end equipment like complex microprocessor-controlled
incubators.
“The embryos
didn't care if they were in an expensive triple walled incubator or a thermos
flask,”said Professor Jonathan Van Blerkom, Embryologist, University of
Colorado.
The next
day, the test tube is visualized under a microscope to see if an embryo has
been formed, which is transferred to the mother’s womb after 6 days.
This
simplified system reduces the whole IVF lab to an aluminium heating block
containing one pair of test tubes for each embryo, all inside a shoebox-sized
container.
Trials began
in Genk, Belgium in November 2012, and so far, 50 healthy babies have been born
in Belgium
using the system. “The technique works at least as good as regular IVF for a lower price, “says Ombelet.
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| Self contained incubators |
Beyond Genk,
Belgium the Walking Egg project have started laboratories in Ghana Porto,
Kenya, Porto, London and Sicily. But IVF lobbyist are creating problems for
setting up LCIVF labs across countries.
It took 2
years for Geeta Nargund, a senior consultant gynecologist and the medical
director of the Create Health Clinics in London
to navigate through the stricter regulation in London for a trial
of The Walking Egg project to begin.
In Europe,
this method can cut IVF costs by three-quarters bringing it down to less than
200 euros (£159) per cycle, says Willem Ombelet of the Genk Institute for
Fertility Technology in Belgium.
Many
international organizations have already expressed their desire to collaborate with
the Walking Egg project including WHO, ESHRE and ISMAAR.
The W.E
organization is working on education of the women in all aspects of fertility,
advocacy and networking with global and local organizations.
Currently the
project team and organization collaborates with members from the developing
countries and help them set up low cost IVF laboratories in their countries, training
and capacity building.
Dr Willem Ombelet
also gave an hour talk about the Walking Egg Project at the The Best of ASRM and ESHRE held from 23-25 February,2017 at Paris, France.
The full
information about the project can be
accessed here.
