A 70-Year-Old Woman in Uganda Gives Birth to Twins via IVF
According to the NY Post, Arthur Matsiko, a spokesperson for the International Women’s Hospital and Fertility Center, announced that 70-year-old Safina Namukwaya gave birth to a set of twins (one boy and one girl) on November 29.
“The mother is healthy and can talk and walk around the hospital with the doctor’s permission,” said Matsiko.
Dr. Edward Tamale Sali mentioned that the mother used donor eggs and her husband’s sperm for the in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure.
“This is an extraordinary achievement,” Dr. Sali stated, noting that the twins were born prematurely at 31 weeks and are currently being cared for in an incubator.
Elderly woman Namukwaya gives birth to twins at age 70 via IVF.
Namukwaya is the oldest mother to give birth at the Kampala capital hospital, which specializes in helping couples facing infertility.
“At 70, I was thought to be too weak to become pregnant or give birth, let alone take care of a baby, so it is truly miraculous to welcome these twins,” the mother told AFP.
She had previously given birth to a baby girl in 2020 through IVF, after being ridiculed by her rural community as a “cursed woman” for not having children.
Her first husband passed away in 1992, leaving her alone without children until she met her current husband in 1996.
However, Namukwaya expressed disappointment that her husband has not visited her since she was admitted to the hospital to give birth, speculating that he “feels uncomfortable because she had twins.”
“Men don’t want their wives to have twins. He hasn’t come to visit since I was hospitalized,” she lamented.
In 2019, a 73-year-old woman in India also gave birth to twins through in vitro fertilization.
