'I will shed and waste it after all': Knowledge about egg donation among egg donors in selected health facilities in Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

Research around the world has indicated that the demand for egg donation has grown considerably among young females. Egg donation involves using eggs from a fertile woman to create a pregnancy in an infertile woman by means of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF). As a relatively novel and growing practice, it is important we learn what egg donors know about this procedure. Hence, this study was geared at examining the knowledge, and sources of information about egg donation among young egg donors at three selected health facilities in Southeast Nigeria. The convergent parallel mixed method comprising quantitative and qualitative data was adopted. The participants for the quantitative aspect were 53 respondents recruited through total population sampling approach, while purposive sampling technique was employed in the qualitative aspect and 10 participants were interviewed. Collected quantitative data were entered into the SPSS (version 27.0.1) for processing and results presented in tables, analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistical methods while qualitative data were analyzed by means of thematic content analysis technique using OPEN-INFO version 4.2. Findings highlighted that most egg donors (34; 64.2%) had average knowledge about egg donation while 19 (35.8%) of them had high knowledge of egg donation. About two-third of the egg donors 35 (66.0%) would like to donate in the future, while the remaining one-third of them 18 (34.0%) would not like to donate in the future. It was therefore concluded that egg donors in Southeast Nigeria have average-to-high level of knowledge about egg donation. Given that the market for egg donation has become a common method of infertility management in Nigeria, our findings have important implications for practices, policy actions, and future research.