70-Year-Old Woman Defiles Science, Delivers Twins After Years Of Barrenness

A 70-year-old Ugandan woman, Safina Namukwaya, has made history by delivering a set of twins, a boy and a girl after undergoing In vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment.

The caesarean delivery took place at the Women’s Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Kampala, Uganda.

The hospital shared the news on its Facebook page, celebrating the historic achievement.

IVF is a fertility treatment where an egg is fertilized with sperm in a controlled laboratory environment before being returned to the woman’s womb.

Namukwaya, who had previously given birth in 2020, faced challenges during the pregnancy, including desertion by the children’s father.

Despite difficulties, she expressed joy at having the children after enduring the stigma for being childless.

“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.” Namukwaya says after delivery.

Namukwaya said in the past she had suffered miscarriages, lost her husband in the 1990s, and faced stigma within her community for not having any children.

“One time, a very young boy heckled at me saying I had been cursed by my mother to die without a child,” she said.

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.

While Namukway’s case is a rare one, it’s not the first time a woman has given birth at a more advanced age.

Namukwaya is now considered the oldest woman in Africa to give birth.