Health2 min
Delhi NCR couple's seven failed IVF cycles point to air pollution's hidden toll
From sperm DNA damage to a boy's winter asthma, a Gurgaon couple's story shows how India's toxic air is hitting families in their health and in their wallets.
A Gurgaon couple spent five years and nearly ₹14 lakh on seven failed IVF cycles before a deeper set of tests found the problem: high DNA fragmentation in the man's sperm. Doctors could not pin it on any obvious lifestyle habit. One suspect stood out, the polluted air of Delhi NCR, where the couple live. The source report calls them Neha and Raghav, names changed to protect their identity.
Their case is not a one-off, according to fertility specialists. Dr Prachi Benara of Birla Fertility and IVF says more patients are turning up at clinics, and that one cycle used to be enough for many of them. With pollution rising and the quality of eggs and sperm slipping, she says, success in a single attempt is now harder to achieve, and treatment costs more as a result.
Research points the same way. A 2024 study in Reproductive BioMedicine Online linked higher air pollution to poorer sperm quality. In moderately polluted areas, people had 8.8% fewer normal sperm than those in cleaner regions. In heavily polluted areas, that gap grew to 11%.
Pollution does not stop at conception. In Delhi's Nirman Vihar, 11-year-old Aman (name changed) plays for his school cricket team only part of the year. Every winter, as smog settles over the city, his asthma flares up with a cough, breathlessness and night-time attacks. They are often bad enough to land him in hospital once or twice a season.
It was not always this way. Aman lived in Bikaner until he was five and had few asthma symptoms. The trouble began after his father's job transfer moved the family to Delhi NCR. His treatment bills have grown with every winter.
Those bills land on a health system where families already pay heavily from their own pockets. Per capita out-of-pocket health spending fell 10.2% from ₹2,336 in 2013-14 to ₹2,097 in 2017-18. It has since climbed 32% to ₹2,767 in 2022-23, while pollution has stayed high across the country.
The takeaway for readers: bad air is no longer just a winter inconvenience. It can shape whether a family has children, how a child grows up and how much a household spends on doctors. Read the original report on Outlook Business.
FiledMadhya PradeshNarendra ModiEnvironmentHyderabadAhmedabadPollution
