According to a recent EUROSTAT report Malta is among the lowest ranking in term of fertility, with 1.13 live births per woman, the University of Malta said.

It highlighted that in spite of the advances in access to information in this internet era, there is still a lack of knowledge and misinformation on basic reproductive health in the general population.

In view of this, Prof. Jean Calleja Agius from the Department of Anatomy at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery organised two back to back conferences on Fertility Awareness in collaboration with the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector and Dar Guzeppa Debono Foundation of Gozo. One took place in Malta and the other in Gozo.

The first conference was held at Mater Dei Hospital. Prof. Francisco Güell Pelayo, Coordinator of the Mind-Brain Group of the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Navarra, Spain was one of the main guest speakers. Prof. Güell Pelayo has recently completed a 1.2 million Horizon 2020 project: Be Better Informed About Fertility.

The other speakers were Mrs Simone Attard, Chief Executive Officer of the Embryo Protection Authority (EPA), Prof. JosAnn Cutajar from the Faculty for Social Wellbeing, University of Malta, and Dr Georgette Spiteri from the Department of Midwifery, University of Malta.

The topics covered included: the law regarding ART in Malta, surrogacy and preconception parenthood preparation.

This conference was attended by medical students, student midwives, and health care professionals from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Clinic, as well as policy makers and administrative staff.

The second conference was held at the Nadur Youth Centre in Nadur, Gozo and was geared at professionals who work with youth and the general public.

These two events were funded by the Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme (VOPS).

Photo: UM (left to right): Prof. Francisco Güell Pelayo, University of Navarra, Spain; Ms Maria Attard, Director of Dar Guzeppa Debono; Prof. Jean Calleja-Agius, Department of Anatomy

Permalink: Fertility Awareness Conferences held in Malta and Gozo