Infertility: knowledge and attitudes of Moroccan young people—gender approach

Abstract

Background: The knowledge and the beliefs of people could affect the fertility of women and men all over the society. According to gender, the aim of this study was to describe knowledge level and attitude of Moroccan young people about infertility in Marrakesh-Safi region in Morocco. Results: We selected 355 Moroccan young people by a simple random sampling method, during 2019 and using a previously validate questionnaire. Both of female and male had a low level knowledge about the meaning, causes, and treatment of infertility (only 20, 8% of female and 25, 6% of male were aware). Almost, half of them (41, 6% of female versus 51, 9% of male) had reported that it is easier to conceive if the couples had already their first baby. However, 92% of female and 86% of male had confirmed that the lifestyle is a factor that may affect the infertility. The results showed that there was a difference between male and female attitude if the fertility treatment fails, the percentage of male who had proposed the polygamy as solution was higher than female (22.5% versus 6.6%). Besides, the minority had accepted divorce as alternative. The adoption was another solution proposed and accepted by both male and female. Conclusion: The result of our study reflects the fact that it is important to investigate on education and a public awareness about fertility in order to upgrade the level of knowledge and attitudes of Moroccan young people.