IN the past, if a married couple failed to produce a child, there was often an assumption that the woman was “barren”, and no one ever thought there was anything wrong with the male, says Helen Browne, chairwoman of the National Infertility Support and Information Group (NISIG).

FROM the home to the workplace to the altar the national financial crisis is affecting every facet of life and infertility is no exception.

WIDESPREAD concern among fertility experts that women are leaving it too late to have children has led to calls for a national fertility awareness campaign, beginning in the classroom.