enabling hiv carriers to build families

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Enabling HIV Carriers to Build Families

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For the first time in Israel – Rambam has opened a unit that will allow HIV carriers and sufferers of chronic viral diseases to undergo in vitro fertilization.

In mid-April 2010, Rambam Health Care Campus (RHCC) dedicated an in vitro fertilization unit for HIV carriers and sufferers of chronic viral diseases, the first of its kind in Israel. The unit, funded by the Ministry of Health along with RHCC, will treat childless couples, sufferers of chronic viral diseases, and fertility difficulties, who had been rejected from treatment elsewhere.

On April 13, 2010, the first unit for in vitro fertilization for HIV carriers and other chronic viral diseases was dedicated at Rambam. Until now, these patients were forced to seek treatment abroad or to abandon the idea of having families. Together, the Ministry of Health and Rambam planned and established the unit, which will serve couples from all over the country.

Left to Right - Prof. Joseph Itzkovitz, head of RHCC’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Prof. Rafi Beyar, General Director of RHCC, Dr. Hezi Levy, Head of Medical Administration for Ministry of Health and Yonatan Karni, head of the Committee for the War against AIDS, at the IVF dedication. © pioter fliter

Already, tens of Israeli couples and others from abroad, have applied for treatment.
At the unit’s dedication ceremony, Prof. Rafi Beyar, General Director of RHCC, stressed that the project represents a joint effort and offers a unique service. “This is the beginning of an endeavor that will reach its peak when the first baby is born to a couple treated at the unit,” he said. “This is a giant step in the war against preconceived notions,” added Prof. Shimon Reisner, Rambam’s assistant director. “Rambam is among the pioneers of IVF in Israel. This experience, along with the hospital’s expertise in immunological and liver disease, prompted the hospital to open this special service.”

Director of the Immunology Institute at Rambam, Prof. Shimon Pollack, commented that today, AIDS patients and others with chronic illnesses want to have children. “At Rambam, we make this possible,” he said. “What is unique here today, will one day become routine.” Yonatan Karni, head of the Committee for the War against AIDS, reiterated, “This is a social struggle that is now receiving medical expression. The establishment of this unit at Rambam is a ray of light.”

From the moment the Ministry of Health gave its approval, the unit was established in record time of four months. It is equipped with a laboratory, which serves a number of clinics that treat patients with different chronic viral diseases. The unit operates with cooperation of the Immunology Institute, which absorbs couples seeking treatment, the Institute for Liver Diseases, the Viral Laboratory, and the unit for in vitro fertilization. Located in a separate and discreet site at Rambam, the unit ensures the privacy of those seeking its services. Costing more than two million shekels, the unit was built with great attention to the medical staff’s safety, which called for the last word in special protective gear and devices.

Why is Rambam the ideal site for the unit? “We have the experience and the desire to deal with IVF and viral diseases,” said Prof. Joseph Itzkovitz, head of the hospital’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. “Rambam has a multidisciplinary approach that addresses this issue in the most professional fashion. I hope the unit will become a national center.”