A WhatsApp group called Life of Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), Endometriosis and Fibroids has become a support network for more than 240 Jamaican women who want children but are unable to conceive because of their diagnoses and the high cost of treatment options that could make pregnancy possible.

Amid continued calls from the Ministry of Health for Jamaicans to have children to help boost the country’s declining birth rate, the women are appealing to the Government for assistance with medication and fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilisation (IVF), saying they are willing and ready to become mothers but cannot afford the medical costs to make their desires achievable.

Diagnosed with PCOS — now polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) — at 19 years old, Cassandra Ahloc Bernardroiva said she created the WhatsApp group on May 13 after realising there was little attention being given to women who desperately want children but face reproductive health conditions that make conception difficult.