For couples wanting so much to have a baby but are having difficulty having one due to infertility problems, hope still springs eternal.
According to the American Pregnancy Association, infertility affects approximately one out of every six couples, with female infertility contributing to approximately 50 percent of all infertility cases.
Female infertility can be medically treated using various methods like taking hormones to address a hormone imbalance, taking medications to stimulate ovulation, using supplements to enhance fertility, taking antibiotics to remove an infection, and having minor surgery to remove blockage or scar tissues from the fallopian tubes, uterus, or pelvic area.
If these still don't work, a couple can resort to In Vitro Fertilization, which is one of the techniques in assisted reproductive technology. It's a process of fertilisation where an egg and sperm are combined manually in a laboratory dish, and then transferred to the embryo to the uterus.
Some couples facing this kind of problem resort to prayers combined with belief in "miraculous cures."
The Daily Mail listed at least 10 places in the world where infertile couples could try their luck in finding a solution to their problem.
For instance in Italy, there is the famous Miracle Chair of Naples, which some locals claim to hold the key to fertility.
It's ordinary old armchair under a worn blanket in a three-room flat in Naples. The site draws thousands of childless women from all over the world, according to Reuters.
All these women pray for the miracle of childbirth with the intercession from Saint Mary Frances of the Five Wounds of Jesus.
A local nun would ask a visiting woman to sit on the "miracle chair." The nun would then touch the woman's belly with a "monstrance" or reliquiary containing a vertebra and a lock of hair from the saint as she prays.
In the Philippines, infertile couples seeking to be blessed with a child participate in the Obando Fertility Dance, according to Philippines Insider.
The Fertility Dance is celebrated in the town of Obando, Bulacan province in honour of Santa Clara, patron saint of the childless. People also dance to the saint in hopes of finding the right mate.
The Daily Mail also cited other places and events in the world where infertile couples could visit and participate in hopes of being blessed with a child. These are the Cerne Abbas Giant in England, the Chao Mae Tuptim shrine and Phra Nang Beach Cave in Thailand, the Festival of the Steel Phallus in Japan, the Watering of the Girls in Hungary, the Victor Noir Tomb in France, the Panagia Tsambika Monastery in Greece, the Khajuraho Temples in India, and the Osun Sacred Grove in Nigeria.
