Free IVF treatment for women up to 44 'would be cost effective'

IVF is undergoing a huge global expansion, particularly in developing countries, and thousands of couples cross borders every year to access treatment or find egg and sperm donors.

Hundreds of British women go abroad every month for fertility treatment, owing to restrictions on accessing it on the NHS and the high costs of IVF.

Official guidelines say women should get three free cycles of IVF on the NHS but fewer than one-in-three health trusts offer that and several do not fund fertility treatment at all.

An expert from the Netherlands said it was cost-effective for countries to fund IVF up to the age of 44. He based his calculations on the cost of treatment compared to the economic contribution a person makes to society over their lifetime.

Presenting his findings at the World Congress of Fertility and Sterility in Munich, Professor Johannes Evers said he based his work on the Netherlands.

He said each new life contributes about 238,000 euros (200,000) to the economy once healthcare, retirement, education and social welfare costs are taken into account.

But he warned that while IVF was cost-effective up to 44, women should not wait until their fertility declines to have children owing to the low chances of IVF success. "One of the means to reduce the cost of IVF has been to call for an age limit on fertility in general and IVF in particular. This work shows that society actually receives substantial benefits from each baby produced via IVF, and simply looking at the costs of IVF without looking at the benefits is false economy."

Prof Evers' comments come as a new report from the International Federation of Fertility Societies (IFFS) showed a rapid rise in the number of IVF clinics being set up around the world.

British laws banning payments to sperm and egg donors mean British couples head to countries such as Spain and the Czech Republic. In Spain, egg donors are paid about 900 euro and the amount is about 800 euro in the Czech Republic.

In Britain, sperm and egg donors can only be compensated up to 250 for "loss of earnings" plus "reasonable expenses", although that is currently under review.

In Britain, children are also legally allowed to trace their donor parent once they turn 18. Countries such as the Czech Republic, Denmark, France and Spain still offer anonymity.

However, experts warn of the dangers of going abroad for treatment, including the risk of multiple pregnancies, which can be harmful to mother and baby, and the NHS being left to foot the bill for complications.

Ian Cooke, professor emeritus at Sheffield University and education director for the IFFS, said the message to the British Government was that other countries fund much more IVF.

"I think there's a great deal of unresolved distress through the inability to afford IVF" or having to pay out-of-pocket expenses, Prof Cooke added.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "The NHS decides locally on the funding of fertility treatments such as IVF. They make these decisions based on the health priorities of their local population."