A PREFERENCE RANKING STUDY OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA APPS USED BY FEMALE PATIENTS UNDERGOING INFERTILITY TREATMENT

Failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse is dened as infertility. Infertility has an impact on millions of affected families and 1 communities . Estimates suggest that approximately one in every six people of reproductive age worldwide experience 2 infertility in their lifetime . The most prevalent causes of infertility in the male reproductive system include aberrant sperm shape and motility, low or absent sperm counts, and 3 issues with semen ejection. . In the female reproductive system, infertility may be caused by a range of abnormalities of the ovaries, uterus, fallopian tubes, and the endocrine 4 system, among others . Infertility can be primary or secondary. A person is considered to be primarily infertile if they have never been pregnant, and secondarily infertile if they have at least one previous pregnancy. The prevention, diagnosis, and 5 treatment of infertility are all included in fertility care . Most nations still struggle to provide all women with equal access to reproductive care, especially those with low and middle incomes. Seldom does national universal health coverage 6 prioritise fertility care. . Research studies show that women's health apps do not appropriately address the needs of patients struggling with infertility and are of low quality with 7 signicant inaccuracies in content (Zwingerman et al., 2020) . Hence fertility counsellors providing support need to design the content efciently such that the app preferred by the patient can give optimal knowledge and emotional support ,thereby supplementing the course of the treatment. Development of such patient support tools should be a priority and the connect between the fertility counsellor and the patient should be enhanced through the use of the right app.