The Bertarelli Foundation's actions in the field of multiple gestations

The Bertarelli Foundation aims to promote understanding of infertility. Two international conferences in 1999 and 2002 have highlighted the importance of multiple gestations, which have been recognized as a major problem associated with assisted reproductive technologies and ovulation induction therapies. For this reason, the Bertarelli Foundation has, since 2002, decided to focus its efforts on multiple gestations: the final aim of this programme is to make the medical population more aware of this public health problem, its psychosocial implications, and the high costs of any attitude that leads to an unacceptably high rate of multiple gestations. Conclusions and consensus statements have been widely published from the first expert meeting 2003 and used as the basis for the following actions: (i) organization of national conferences and consensus meetings with the aim of establishing gold standards in managing the ongoing epidemic of multiple gestations; (ii) funding research projects focused on different aspects of multiple gestations; (iii) supporting the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology's multiple gestations working group's (European IVF Monitoring) registry; and (iv) promoting understanding of the human face of infertility by promoting publications, development of websites, exhibitions in the field of infertility.