The World Health Organization defines sexual health as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being in relation to sexuality, and not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or discomfort, and affirms that for all people to achieve and maintain good sexual health, their sexual rights must be respected, protected and fulfilled.
Sexual health is closely related to reproductive health, and interventions to preserve it include infertility treatment. To explore the relationship between sexual health and fertility in more depth, we spoke to Dr. Olga Serra, gynecologist at Barcelona IVF .
Could you share with us what your professional career was like until you became part of Barcelona IVF?
After finishing my specialty in gynecology and obstetrics, I worked for a while in a hospital. During that period, I took the opportunity to do a rotation in assisted reproduction to improve my knowledge of fertility. The first time I entered an assisted reproduction laboratory I knew that was what I wanted to do, so I joined the team. It was a few years later that, in order to offer more personalized care, greater psychological support and improve results, the Barcelona IVF project began.
From your perspective, what is the importance of comprehensive sex education?
CSE is not only important, it is indispensable, since it not only improves our state of health, it also shapes our society.
When we talk about SSI we are not only talking about sex, we are also talking about sexuality, contraception, fertility, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, gender violence, homophobia ... for this reason, CSE is an object of basic interest for organizations as important as the WHO or UNESCO.
CSE not only proposes educational programs at the school and institute level aimed at young people and adolescents, CSE is also the origin of campaigns with an important impact on society in general, such as the put it on.
CSE provides us all, not only young people and adolescents, with instruments that can help us to have a better sexuality, a better state of physical and mental health, and a freer and more tolerant society, and therefore CSE programs must be adapted to the needs of each society, and although they may have the same objective, they change depending on the country and the moment.
How does sexual health influence fertility?
Sexual health and fertility are rarely talked about at the same time, but the reality is that any pathology that can affect our sexual health will or could affect our fertility. I am not referring only to those pathologies that may be derived from sexually transmitted infections or unwanted pregnancies, but also to everything that may cause any problem of sexuality or difficulty in sexual relations, whether for physical or psychological reasons. That is why we talk about reproductive health.
Having good sexual reproductive health implies having access to truthful information that allows us to have safe and satisfactory sexual health, having the possibility of choosing an affordable, safe and effective contraceptive method, being informed and empowered to protect oneself from sexually transmitted diseases, having the ability to decide whether or not we want to have children and when to have them, and to receive the necessary health care to help us have a proper pregnancy, a safe birth and a healthy baby.
How can sexually transmitted infections affect fertility?
Sexually transmitted infections can be the cause of gynecological pathology that causes sterility, such as endometritis, tubal alterations or pelvic inflammatory disease, and can also be the origin of obstetric pathology causing miscarriages or fetal malformations.
After the onset of AIDS, society became aware of the risk of STIs, and as a result, condom use increased and the prevalence of STIs decreased dramatically.
In recent years, there has been a significant increase in STIs, especially in the young population, which is also the population that consults a specialist the least and later, so it seems that we are seeing the tip of the iceberg, since we are only diagnosing very advanced cases and complications.
The infections that have increased the most are chlamydia and gonococcal infections, but we are also seeing infections such as syphilis, which until a few years ago was practically non-existent in our environment. This increase in STIs is a cause for concern for national and European health authorities, who have set to work by initiating campaigns aimed at reducing the rate of STIs, such as the one initiated by the Ministry of Health: with sexually transmitted infections # you decide what you share .
What impact does lifestyle have on reproductive health?
Lifestyle undoubtedly affects both fertility and the development of pregnancy, It is obvious that the consumption of toxins such as tobacco or alcohol, dietary disorders, stress... they do not facilitate conception, and can be the cause of obstetric pathology, but they can also be the cause of decreased sexual desire or difficulty in relationships. Issues such as nutrition and good habits seemed to be forgotten, but the trend is to become aware of their impact.
Do you think society is adequately informed about sexual and reproductive health issues?
In recent decades, a great effort has been made to make this happen, but there is still a long way to go.
In the first place, because the population that most requires information changes, so that what some generations have taken as obvious, for the youngest may not be so, and an example is the decrease in condom use and the increase in STDs.
Secondly, because needs change, a few decades ago the priority was to avoid STIs and unwanted pregnancies, today in addition to this we must worry about the impact of social networks, access to pornography at an early age, ... and an issue that we have forgotten is fertility and age.
Currently, the most important cause of infertility in our society is the age of the woman. Over the years, the age at which women have their 1st child has been increasing, and our country holds one of the worst positions in this ranking Many are the women who come to our clinic for this reason and when they are informed, they regret that no one had done it before. Oocyte vitrification can be considered as an option, although some countries already apply policies that facilitate earlier motherhood, it is not easy, since it has an important socioeconomic implication, but at least we should make sure that this information reaches society at the right time and not when it is too late.
We want to thank Dr. Olga Serra for sharing her valuable time and knowledge with us. Her experience in Barcelona IVF has given us deep insight into the relationship between sexual health and fertility. It is clear that comprehensive sex education, prevention of sexually transmitted infections and a healthy lifestyle are essential to improve the chances of conception and maintain good reproductive health. At Barcelona IVF, we work with a holistic and personalized approach to ensure that the sexual and reproductive rights of each patient are respected and protected. We hope this interview has been informative and helpful in understanding the importance of these issues in daily life.
