The Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Kampala has confirmed that a 70-year-old Ugandan woman recently gave birth to twins through IVF treatment, making her the oldest woman in Africa to achieve this feat.
The hospital shared on Facebook, “We successfully delivered a boy and a girl through a cesarean section. This story showcases not only medical success but also the strength and resilience of the human spirit.”
Safina Namukwaya, the nursing mother, revealed in an interview with the privately owned NTV channel that she had given birth to her second child in three years. She had previously welcomed a girl in 2020. Ms. Namukwaya faced multiple challenges during the recent pregnancy, including the desertion by the children’s father, but she expressed her joy at the arrival of the twins.
“Men don’t like to be told that you are carrying more than one child. Ever since I was admitted here, my man has never shown up,” she revealed.
Ms. Namukwaya acknowledged the difficulties ahead in raising the children but emphasized her happiness after enduring years of stigma and ridicule for her childlessness. She shared a past incident, saying, “One time, a very young boy heckled me, saying my mother had cursed me to die without a child.”
According to the NHS, In vitro fertilization (IVF) is one of several techniques available to help people with fertility problems have a baby. During IVF, an egg is removed from the woman’s ovaries and fertilized with sperm in a laboratory. The fertilized egg, called an embryo, is then returned to the woman’s womb to grow and develop.
