By Onu Stephen
A 70-year-old Ugandan woman, Safina Namukwaya, has delivered a set of twins following an IVF procedure at a hospital in Uganda – becoming the oldest woman to give birth in Africa.
According to the BBC, Namukwaya welcomed twins; a boy and a girl, via Caesarean last week at the Women’s Hospital International Centre in Kampala, Uganda.
In-Vitro fertilisation is one of several fertility techniques in which an egg is removed from a woman’s ovaries and fertilised with sperm in a laboratory. The fertilised egg, called an embryo, is then put in a woman’s womb to grow and develop, and delivered after nine months.
Namukwaya is the oldest woman to become a mother in Africa, the hospital said in a statement posted on their official Facebook page.
“Celebrating our 20th anniversary, we’ve achieved the extraordinary – delivering twins to Africa’s oldest mother aged 70! This story isn’t just about medical success; it’s about the strength and resilience of the human spirit,” the statement went on.
However, the specific details of the IVF procedure, including whether Namukwaya used a donor egg or an egg preserved from her youth, remain undisclosed.
Despite the medical triumph, Namukwaya shared the personal challenges she faced during her pregnancy.
She told Uganda’s Daily Monitor that her partner abandoned her upon learning that she was pregnant with twins.
However, welcoming a set of twins marked her second delivery in three years, following the birth of a girl in 2020.
Namukwaya, who reportedly lost her husband in 1992 before entering into another relationship four years later, expressed the difficulties of being a mother without the support of her partner.
“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. I looked after people’s children and saw them grow up and leave me alone. I wondered who would take care of me when I grew old,” she said.
Her story mirrors that of a 73-year-old Indian woman, Erramatti Mangamma, who currently holds the record for being the oldest living mother. She gave birth at the age of 73 through in-vitro fertilisation and Caesarean section in Andhra Pradesh, India.
