Ugandan Woman Becomes The Oldest Person To Give Birth In Africa After Welcoming Babies At 70 | Read Her Bitter-sweet Story!
An Ugandan woman aged 70 has given birth to twins in what the mother hailed as a miracle.
Safina Namukwaya became the oldest woman to give birth in Africa after she delivered twins on Wednesday afternoon, November 29, the Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in the Ugandan capital of Kampala said.
Safina delivered a set of twins – a boy and a girl, after becoming pregnant through an In vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment, BBC reports Thursday.
Medics at the Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in the Ugandan capital, Kampala said the mother and her two babies are doing well after they were delivered via a successful caesarean.
Safina described her joy at the arrival of the twins who were born after years of trying.
“There is no way to express my joy at this moment,” said Namukwaya, who lives in the rural of Masaka, west of Kampala.
“This is extraordinary achievement, delivering twins to Africa’s oldest mother at 70 years,” Doctor Edward Tamale Sali, who supervised her pregnancy and delivery, told AFP.
The hospital shared the news of the delivery via its Facebook page on Wednesday, stating,
“70-year-old, Safina Namukwaya, speaking just before the delivery of her beautiful babies. Yes, she delivered twins, a boy and a girl. A historic achievement indeed.
“As we honour this courageous mother and anticipate the healthy growth of her twins, we invite you to celebrate with us. This story isn’t just about medical success; it’s about the strength and resilience of the human spirit.”
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Ms Namukwaya told the NTV channel that this was her second delivery in three years. According to her, she gave birth to a girl called Sarah in 2020, after being mocked as “cursed woman” who had previously failed to produce a child.
She said her first husband had died in 1992, leaving her without children, and she met her current partner in 1996.
The mother added that she had suffered some complications and difficulties during her twins pregnancy, including the father of her children leaving her. She said:
“Men don’t like to hear that you are going to have more than one child. Even after I was admitted, my man never showed up.
Maybe he is not happy that I delivered twins because men don’t want to know you are carrying more than one child in a womb for fear of may be responsibilities that come with that.”
Ms Namukwaya said in the past she had suffered miscarriages from her first marriage, and faced stigma within her community for not having any children.
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Namukwaya said she did not know how she would manage to raise the children, but was happy to have them,
“One time, a very young boy heckled at me saying I had been cursed by my mother to die without a child,” she said.
Ms Namukwaya had revealed after the birth of her first child that she had been judged for not giving birth after 40 years of trying.
“Many people judged and abused me for being barren but, I decided to leave everything to the Almighty God who has finally answered my prayers,”
she said shortly after the birth of her first daughter in 2020.
According to the hospital where she had the babies. Namukwaya becomes the oldest woman in Africa to give birth.
In 2019, Erramatti Mangayamma, from India, gave birth to twins through IVF at the age of 74, becoming the world’s oldest mother.
Mangayamma, of Andhra Pradesh state, gave birth to two healthy baby girls with her husband of 57 years, Sitarama Rajarao at her side.