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Svitlana Yashchenok: Why Isn’t Anyone Talking about the Male Fertility Factor?
Svitlana Yashchenok/LinkedIn
Sep 2, 2026, 16:00

Svitlana Yashchenok: Why Isn’t Anyone Talking about the Male Fertility Factor?

Svitlana Yashchenok, Practice Manager at Reproductive Health Medical Centre LADA, shared on LinkedIn:

”Male Fertility Factor: why isn’t anyone talking about it?

When a couple walks into a consultation, almost every question is aimed at the woman: her cycle, her hormones, her treatment protocol. But the male factor is far from rare; it’s the one cause of infertility in 20% of couples and plays a role in nearly half of all cases.

Why the silence?

There are a few reasons behind this silence, and each one makes psychological sense.

  • Cultural stigma. Male infertility feels like a hit to masculinity, making it harder for men to open up
  • Lack of data. Men remain underrepresented in fertility research, though that’s slowly starting to shift
  • The cost is real. 93% of men in one survey said infertility took a toll on their self-esteem and overall well-being

A troubling trend.

There’s a scientific signal here that deserves more attention. A landmark meta-analysis by Hagai Levine and Shanna Swan, published in Human Reproduction Update, found that sperm concentration worldwide dropped by more than 50% over 46 years – and the decline hasn’t slowed down; it’s actually picked up speed since 2000. More recent data points to a drop of over 60% since 1972.

That’s the trend that pushed Shanna Swan to predict that by mid-century, the median sperm count could edge close to zero. That’s an extrapolation, not a proven fact, and scientists are still debating it. But the trend itself isn’t coming out of nowhere; it’s backed by a meta-regression of more than 200 studies across 53 countries.

What this means for fertility clinics.

A clinic that treats only the female patient is missing half the picture. Male infertility research isn’t underfunded because it matters less; it’s underfunded because it’s talked about less.

At LADA, we treat the couple, not just the one patient while their partner waits outside the door. For us, a semen analysis is a diagnostic test just as significant as assessing ovarian reserve. The silence around male factor infertility has never meant the problem doesn’t exist. It’s only ever meant the conversation hasn’t happened.”

Other articles featuring Svitlana Yashchenok on Fertility News.

Fertility Fertility News male fertility Male Fertility Factor male infertility OBGYN reproductive health Reproductive Medicine Svitlana Yashchenok Women’s Health
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