Accra has more fertility clinics than anywhere else in Ghana - the Fertility Society of Ghana counts over thirty assisted conception centres across Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi - and every one of them is private. Two things to know before choosing one:

  • No law specifically regulates IVF in Ghana. A research paper in the Ghana Medical Journal and a Court of Appeal judge have both said so. The Fertility Society itself says it has no legal power to regulate its members. An Assisted Reproductive Technology bill was in its final draft with the Attorney-General in 2024; check whether it has been passed.
  • NHIS does not cover fertility treatment. The Fertility Society has asked for basic infertility tests and treatment to be added; until then, every cycle is paid for privately or by an insurer that covers it, which few do.

So the protections a law would give you have to come from your own questions.

Choosing a clinic

Ask every clinic you consider, and compare the answers in writing:

  • Who leads it, and whether the doctors are registered specialists with the Medical and Dental Council.
  • Their results, for women your age. A pregnancy rate quoted for all ages hides the thing that matters most. Ask how they count: a positive test, a pregnancy on a scan and a baby born are different numbers.
  • The full cost of one cycle, and what is extra: drugs, scans, freezing embryos, storing them each year, a second transfer.
  • What happens to frozen embryos, for how long they are kept, at what cost, and what the consent form says happens if you separate or one of you dies.
  • Donor eggs and sperm: where they come from, what is known about the donor, and what the child can learn later.
  • Whether the clinic has its own laboratory, or sends work elsewhere.

Read every consent form before you sign it, and keep a copy.

Surrogacy

Surrogacy is done in Ghana, but the law on who the child’s parents are is unsettled: the Court of Appeal judge who called for an IVF law noted that the Registration of Births and Deaths Act touches on surrogacy without settling it. Do not enter a surrogacy arrangement without a lawyer, and a written agreement drawn up before treatment begins.

Before IVF

Many couples are offered IVF before simpler tests and treatments have been tried. A gynaecologist who is not selling IVF can check both partners first - a semen test, hormone tests, a scan of the womb and tubes - and tell you whether something simpler might work.

— Having a baby in Accra — Hospitals in Accra — Private health insurance