8 in 10 Singapore women lack fertility awareness
Women with trouble conceiving may be slow to seek help due to misconceptions
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Eight in 10 Singaporean women want to have kids but are at a loss when they cannot get pregnant. Instead of seeing a doctor, they think it is because of "God's will" or "bad luck".
The responses of the 100 Singaporean women were part of a study that surveyed 1,000 women in 10 Asian countries, the findings of which were released yesterday.
Commissioned by biopharmaceutical company Merck Serono, the study was led by National University Hospital's Professor P.C. Wong, a fertility expert.
From late last year to April this year, researchers surveyed married women aged 20 to 45 who had been trying to get pregnant for the past six months but failed.
Background story
Asian women's views on fertility
HERE is what the study uncovered about Singaporean women's attitudes towards getting pregnant, compared with women elsewhere in Asia.
Desire to become parents
- Singapore - 78 per cent
- India - 92 per cent
- South Korea - 60 per cent
Believe that employers will not give them time off for fertility treatment
- Singapore - 44 per cent
- Taiwan - 62 per cent
- Vietnam - 27 per cent
Know that infertility refers to failure to conceive after one year of trying
- Singapore - 46 per cent
- Indonesia - 16 per cent
- South Korea - 55 per cent
Believe that a woman who does not menstruate is still fertile
- Singapore - 52 per cent
- China - 38 per cent
- Hong Kong - 62 per cent
Recognise that obesity can reduce fertility
- Singapore - 35 per cent
- Hong Kong - 15 per cent
- South Korea - 52 per cent
