Improving Fertility Care & Resources in BC/Yukon
Improving Fertility Care & Resources in BC/Yukon
A major collaborative initiative culminated in 2025 co-led by AYAs, Anew, BC Cancer and BC Children’s Hospital to improve fertility care and resources in BC/Yukon. Effective fertility care is one of the top priorities of AYAs everywhere and, in Canada, according to a Young Adult Cancer Canada 2020 study, only 50% of AYAs have opportunity to discuss fertility with their medical team – and only 13% of these undergo preservation procedures.
Efforts to improve care in BC/Yukon included workshops with AYAs to explore their fertility care experiences and to identify priorities to improve care and interviews with clinicians to understand their referral practice to fertility preservation services and barriers to care. An AYA Working Group then worked together with care providers to co-develop new resources to support improved fertility care. These draft resources were reviewed and enhanced at the 2024 BC Cancer Summit and published shortly thereafter followed by many presentations to raise awareness amongst care providers:
Information brochures for:
In addition, project leaders partnered with BC Cancer’s Clinical Systems Transformation team to highlight fertility care as part of the organizations’ electronic medical record system.
Efforts are underway now to better understand and address the fertility care needs of AYAs who identify as men – a group often underrepresented in research and supportive care.
“We do not receive training in the skills required to have informed discussions about future fertility planning. The work by this group provides us all with the tools we need to not only ensure these discussions are happening, but that they continue to happen in a patient centred way.”
—Cancer Care Provider
Research partners: This research is supported with funding from Royal Roads University, the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer, Vancouver Foundation and Michael Smith Health Research BC.
