International Federation of Fertility Societies' Surveillance (IFFS) 2019: Global Trends in Reproductive Policy and Practice, 8th Edition

The triennial Surveillance project, initiated in 1998 by Drs. Howard Jones, Jr and Jean Cohen, continues to evolve, now with a new name, the International Federation of Fertility Societies' Surveillance (IFFS) 2019: Global Trends in Reproductive Policy and Practice, 8th Edition. The new name more accurately reflects the scope and focus of the project, and makes the report more accessible to a global audience, particularly those seeking this information online. IFFS is a non-state actor (NSA) in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO), and the publication of Surveillance serves as part of the IFFS' WHO mandate. The 2019 version has several major changes. Some chapters have been expanded, and some topics have been combined to eliminate redundancies. The number of chapters has been reduced from 24 to 18, but all previous topics and questions have been retained. The 2018 online questionnaire was the sole source of data for IFFS Surveillance 2019: Global Trends in Reproductive Policy and Practice, 8th Edition. The online questionnaire was further refined, and was again administered by Medtech for Solutions®. The refined questionnaire consisted of 94 questions, in English, with translated versions available. On average, it took 90 minutes (cumulative on-site time) to complete. The survey was accessible online from February 1 through March 31, 2018. Although a few responses were accepted shortly after the deadline, they reflect the practices of assisted reproductive technology (ART) (also called assisted reproductive treatment) through that time. Respondents representing 97 countries (22 more than in 2015) registered online at the website, and all provided at least some responses to the 2018 questionnaire, enough to be included in the analysis.