Uganda: Woman becomes ‘Africa’s oldest mother’ after giving birth at 70 to twins
A woman has become “Africa’s oldest mother” after giving birth to twins aged 70.
Safina Namukwaya gave birth to a boy and a girl on 29 November after undergoing in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment at the Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Kampala, Uganda.
The birth was described by the centre as “historic”.
“We’ve achieved the extraordinary – delivering twins to Africa’s oldest mother aged 70!” it said in a statement on Facebook.
It added that both Ms Namukwaya and her children were doing well.
Ms Namukwaya told local media outlet NTV Uganda that the pregnancy was “not a cup of tea” and she had spent nearly all of her savings due to feeling sick.
It is her second time giving birth in three years, having had a baby girl through IVF in 2020.
The process of IVF involves an egg being removed from the woman’s ovaries and then fertilised with sperm in a laboratory, according to the NHS.
The fertilised egg, called an embryo, is then returned to the woman’s womb to grow and develop.
Despite her age, Ms Namukwaya is not the oldest person ever to give birth, after a 74-year-old woman in India gave birth to twin girls in 2019.
Erramatti Mangayamma’s daughters were conceived through IVF, doctors in the state of Andhra Pradesh said at the time.