70-year-old Ugandan woman gives birth to twins

A 70-year-old Ugandan woman has given birth to twins, “an extraordinary feat”, her doctor told AFP on Thursday.

“It’s an extraordinary feat to give birth to twins” for a 70-year-old mother, Dr. Edward Tamale Sali, who supervised her pregnancy and delivery, told AFP.

The mother, Safina Namukwaya, described the birth of the twins, a boy and a girl, on Wednesday as a “miracle”.

Both mother and babies are in good health and are still under observation at a facility in the capital Kampala, continued Edward Tamale Sali. Safina Namukwaya usually lives in rural Masaka, some 120 kilometers west of the capital.

Only three years ago, the septuagenarian gave birth to a daughter, after being described as a “cursed woman” for not having been able to have children before.

With her first husband, who died in 1992, she had no children of her own. Ms. Namukwaya’s current partner, whom she met in 1996, did not attend the birth, much to her dismay.

“Maybe he’s not happy that I gave birth to twins (…) for fear of the responsibilities that entails,” she said.