Who should consider sperm donation?
HFEA highlighted that treatment using donor sperm has a lower proportion of patients registered with a male partner (41%), with 28% registered with a female partner, and 20% registered with no partner.
Nevzat from
Cyprus IVF Hospital explained that sperm donation is considered when:
- Heterosexual couples have a male partner with poor sperm quality or with a genetic disorder they they don’t want to pass on to the baby
- Female same-sex couples who want to have children
- Single women who want to have children
Are there many sperm donors available in North Cyprus?
Sperm donation in North Cyprus is regulated by the Ministry of Health and sperm donors need to be between 20-45 years of age and go through health checks. However,
Cyprus IVF Hospital works mostly with three global sperm banks: European Sperm Bank, Seattle Sperm Bank and Cryos.
This means we have access to a large variety of sperm, from patients who go through all health checks.
How do couples choose a sperm donor?
Clinicians choose sperm donors based on male patients’ characteristics: ethnicity, hair colour, eye colour etc If a woman is trying to conceive solo, or in cases of female same-sex couples, they can choose the characteristics they would like in a donor. These characteristics are sent to the sperm bank and the sperm bank chooses the best match.
What are the success rates?
Success rates with sperm donation are better than with standard sperm. This is because the global quality of sperm has been reducing, so making sure we get sperm from the sperm bank, with good quality, allows us to have good success rates.
Is sperm donor anonymous in North Cyprus?
Yes it is anonymous, we don’t have any identifiable details from the donors. We know the characteristics which we sent to the sperm bank (ethnicity, hair colour etc) and these are used to match the donor to the patient.
