Ghana has been urged to accelerate the development of comprehensive legislation on assisted reproductive technology (ART), with particular emphasis on protecting women, donors and surrogates from exploitation, as the Fertility Society of Ghana (FERSOG) marks its 10th Anniversary Annual General and Scientific Conference in Accra.
The conference, under the theme “Third Party Reproduction in Ghana: Clinical, Ethical and Regulatory Challenges and Emerging Opportunities,” has brought together fertility specialists, embryologists, nurses, counsellors, lawyers, regulators, researchers, faith leaders and other stakeholders in reproductive healthcare.
A major highlight of Friday’s opening ceremony was the keynote address delivered by Hon. Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, Deputy Chief of Staff (Administration), who also represented the First Lady, H.E. Mrs Lordina Mahama. She conveyed the First Lady’s congratulations to FERSOG and reaffirmed the Lordina Foundation’s commitment to supporting and advocating for women and families affected by infertility and assisted reproduction.
Call for comprehensive ART legislation
The keynote underscored the need for Ghana’s rapidly expanding fertility sector to be supported by a strong legal and regulatory framework. While Ghana has made progress, including recognition of aspects of surrogacy and legal parentage under the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 2020 (Act 1027), major areas of third-party reproduction remain without comprehensive statutory regulation.
Hon. Bampoe Addo described the Technical Guidelines for Assisted Reproductive Technology in Ghana, launched during the anniversary conference, as an important foundation for the next stage of regulation. She said she would engage the relevant government institutions to help move the process towards the drafting, submission and eventual passage of a comprehensive ART law.
Such legislation, she said, should provide effective oversight of fertility centres, common clinical and ethical standards, reliable national data and clear protection for patients, donors and surrogate mothers.
Preventing exploitation and protecting vulnerable women
A strong focus of the keynote was the risk of exploitation within third-party reproduction, particularly where women facing financial vulnerability are recruited as surrogates or gamete donors. Ethical fertility practice, she stressed, must be based on genuine informed consent, fair compensation without exploitation, respect for the dignity and welfare of surrogates and donors, and protection of the rights of children born through assisted reproduction.
“The most vulnerable person in the arrangement, often a young woman in financial need, must be the first person the system protects.”
The address also drew attention to the risks posed by unregulated agents and informal arrangements and called for the protection of donors and surrogate mothers from coercion, abuse and exploitative commercial practices. The wider regulatory framework, the conference heard, must balance access to treatment with enforceable safeguards for everyone involved.
Making infertility diagnosis and care more accessible
The Deputy Chief of Staff also highlighted the substantial social burden associated with infertility in Ghana, particularly for women, who are frequently blamed or stigmatised even when the cause of infertility may be male-related. She noted that the World Health Organisation estimates that about one in six people of reproductive age will experience infertility during their lifetime.
Importantly, she called for the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to consider the inclusion of basic infertility work-ups and investigations under the National Health Insurance Scheme, helping couples obtain appropriate diagnoses without prohibitive out-of-pocket costs. This reinforced her wider call for fertility care to become more affordable and not remain a privilege for the wealthy alone.
FERSOG launches Research Fund
The anniversary celebration also saw the launch of the FERSOG Research Fund, another major milestone in the Society’s development. The Fund is intended to strengthen locally generated evidence in fertility and reproductive medicine and support research that can inform clinical practice, policy, regulation and future innovation in Ghana.
The launch comes as FERSOG celebrates a decade of work aimed at improving the safety, ethics and quality of fertility practice in the country. The Society has worked with the Ministry of Health over several years towards developing standards for assisted reproduction, culminating in the launch of the Technical Guidelines at this year’s conference.
Ghana’s opportunity to become a regional centre
Despite the regulatory challenges, the conference highlighted the opportunity for Ghana to become a regional centre for high-quality and ethical fertility care. Hon. Bampoe Addo said Ghana’s skilled professionals and growing regional reputation could support the country’s development as an African centre of excellence, provided expansion is accompanied by appropriate standards and regulation.
She also briefly noted the growing use of artificial intelligence in reproductive medicine and the need for safeguards around patient data, consent and accountability as new technologies are adopted.
A broad scientific programme
Across the three-day conference, speakers are tackling third-party reproduction from clinical, embryological, ethical, psychological, legal, regulatory, sociocultural and religious perspectives. Discussions include donor selection and screening, indications for third-party reproduction, infertility stigma, the experiences and vulnerabilities of surrogates and gamete donors, access to ART, cross-border reproductive care, surrogacy contracts, regulation, gamete and embryo ownership and consent, laboratory errors, fertility counselling and the psychological impact of third-party reproduction.
Further sessions address cryopreservation, embryo-transfer practice, spirituality and infertility, as well as a multidisciplinary discussion of religious perspectives on third-party reproduction. Together, the programme reflects the growing complexity of fertility care and the need for coordinated clinical, legal, ethical and social responses.
AGM and elections to conclude conference
FERSOG will also hold its 2026 Annual General Meeting on Saturday, 17 October. The AGM will review the Society’s work over the past year and consider a national ART registry and common data-collection systems, progress on the ART regulatory framework, collaboration among fertility societies in West Africa, the proposed formation of FERSOG regional caucuses and the election of new officers.
The AGM and elections will be followed by the anniversary dinner, awards and closing ceremony. As FERSOG enters its second decade, the conference is looking beyond advances in fertility treatment alone to the larger question of how Ghana can make assisted reproduction safer, more ethical, better regulated, more evidence-driven and more accessible—while ensuring that the pursuit of parenthood never comes at the expense of the dignity or protection of another person.
