New Campaign Asks You To
“Give Life, Give Hope” To Those With Fertility Problems

The Department of Health today launched a new campaign to raise public awareness about the need for egg and sperm donation. The campaign encourages men and women to donate sperm and eggs in order to ‘Give Life, Give Hope’ to the thousands of couples who have fertility problems.

The campaign will focus primarily on men aged 28-45 and women aged 28-35. Donations from just 0.01% of the UK fertile population would satisfy the current demand for eggs and sperm in this country. Currently each year 250 men donate sperm and 1100 women donate their eggs.

A network of 95 fertility clinics throughout England will support the campaign. Posters, leaflets and business cards using the campaign strapline ‘Give Life, Give Hope’ will be distributed to clinics. As well as changing perceptions about donating, the campaign will promote The National Gamete Donation Trust’s (NGDT) helpline and website. The NGDT is the first port of call for anyone interested in finding out more about sperm and egg donation.

Health Minister Melanie Johnson said:

“This campaign will raise awareness of the huge benefits that donation can bring to those with fertility problems. As well as boosting the number of egg and sperm donors we want to encourage people to see the value of donating and to realise what it really means to the recipients: that they are giving families hope and the possibility of a new life."

“We also aim to dispel the myths around donating egg and sperm and seek to assure donors that they will have no financial or legal responsibilities to any related offspring, either now or in 18 years time. By donating today, they are just giving an infertile couple the chance of having a child.”

The campaign launches in the run-up to the implementation of changes in the law to remove donor anonymity. The new rules will lift anonymity from future sperm, egg and embryo donors and allow donor-conceived children to access the identity of their donor when they reach the age of 18.

New research conducted for the campaign suggests that there is a large pool of potential donors of eggs or sperm. Almost half (44%) of respondents involved in the survey showed positive attitudes towards donation; 12% of respondents said they ‘would definitely’ consider donating and 31% said they ‘may consider’ donating.

Laura Witjens , Chair of the National Gamete Donation Trust and egg donor said:

“Although donating egg and sperm is a very personal decision, it is very encouraging to see from this research that there is potentially a much wider pool of people willing to donate than we might have expected. Currently people are unaware of the need for more egg and sperm donors. Our hope is that this campaign will spark an interest in men and women up and down the country to find out more.”

Olivia Montuschi, mother of two sperm donor conceived children said:

“This essential campaign will ensure that more people are given the opportunity to have the families they long for. My partner and I feel very lucky to have been able to become parents thanks to the generosity of our donors. I would encourage more people to consider giving what is the most valuable charitable donation they could ever make - the gift of life.”