Your Fertility ­– how age and lifestyle affect your ability to have kids

Your Fertility is a new campaign to empower all Australians who want to have children, or want more children, with information that will help maximize their chances.

The Your Fertility website (www.yourfertility.org.au) has clear and accurate information about how age and lifestyle factors affect the ability to conceive and to have healthy babies.

Want to test your knowledge of how age and lifestyle affect fertility? Visit the website and take the Your Fertility Quiz. Find out how age, weight, smoking, alcohol use and the timing of sex can affect your ability to conceive and have a healthy baby. There’s also an ovulation calculator, and you can subscribe to the Your Fertility blog to get the latest news and research findings.

Over the course of 2012, you will also find a series of fun animated videos on the website about some of the key factors that affect fertility.

Your Fertility is being run by the Fertility Coalition, which comprises Jean Hailes for Women’s Health, the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority (VARTA), Andrology Australia and the Robinson Institute.

As part of the campaign, the Fertility Coalition commissioned a national survey to find out what Australians know about fertility. Just 20 per cent of Australians knew that women’s fertility starts to decline in their early 30s, while only 9 per cent knew that men’s fertility starts to decline at 45 years of age.

The Your Fertility campaign will also provide resources and education opportunities for health professionals.

The Your Fertility initiative has been funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing’s Family Planning Grants Program.

What you can do to find out more about Your Fertility:
1. Visit the Your Fertility website www.yourfertility.org.au and subscribe to the blog.
2. Like the Your Fertility Facebook page: www.facebook.com/YourFertility
3. Follow Your Fertility on Twitter: @Your_ Fertility or twitter.com/Your_Fertility

Published with the permission of Jean Hailes for Women’s Health
– 1800 JEAN HAILES (532 642)

Photo credit: © WavebreakMediaMicro – Fotolia.com