At this year’s ASRM Scientific Congress in Texas, Professor Aleksander Giwercman from Lund University delivered a keynote address, which highlighted a crucial – yet often overlooked – aspect of fertility: the health of the male partner.
“Regardless of the cause of couple infertility, most are treated by assisted reproduction,” Giwercman noted. “However, some causes of poor semen quality are potentially curable – and male infertility can be an early marker of serious noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disorders, diabetes or cancer.”
His message was clear: understanding and treating male reproductive health more comprehensively could reduce the need for assisted reproduction, improve the overall health of both partners, and even benefit the next generation.
The lecture’s learning objectives included summarizing the impact of male health on couple fertility, identifying evidence linking male infertility to long-term morbidity and mortality, and analyzing how paternal periconceptional health affects pregnancy outcomes and child health.
Following the conference, Giwercman expanded on these points in an interview with Healio on 17 November 2025. In the Q&A, he described male reproductive health as long underrecognized in both clinical practice and research and underlined “we urgently need a paradigm shift in managing infertility – from a ‘women-centered’ to a ‘couple -centered’ approach. This will save the society a lot of money, strengthen the gender equality and benefit the health of the women, man and child.”
Giwercman’s keynote and interview reinforce ReproUnion’s continued focus on integrating male reproductive health into fertility care and research – including through RUBIC, which is establishing the world’s largest biobank of data and biological samples from infertile couples. By including both partners equally, such initiatives pave the way for more personalized treatments, preventive health strategies, and healthier generations to come.
“We need this broader medical investigation of men beyond standard semen analysis – including detailed history, physical examination, and targeted laboratory tests for hormonal, metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors,” added Aleksander and explained how infertile men have a higher risk to develop noncommunicable diseases later in life and that it offers a window of opportunity for preventive health interventions to recognize and address these risk.
Finally, the gender equality aspect was also central to his message: for too long, infertility care has placed both the medical and emotional burden on women. A truly couple-centered approach beyond ReproUnion, he argued, would not only promote equality but also lead to better outcomes for fertility, pregnancy and long-term family health.
