70-Year-Old Ugandan Woman Safina Namukwaya Gives Birth To Twins, Becomes Oldest Woman in Africa to Give Birth You might think that becoming a mother is a privilege reserved for young women, but you would be wrong. In fact, there are many cases of women who have given birth at an advanced age, thanks to the wonders of modern medicine and assisted reproductive technology. One of the most recent and remarkable examples is Safina Namukwaya, a 70-year-old woman from Uganda who gave birth to twins, at the Women's Hospital International and Fertility Centre in Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. Namukwaya and her husband, Badru Walusimbi, 68, had been married for 46 years and had always wanted to have children, but they were unable to conceive naturally. They had tried various traditional and herbal remedies, but nothing worked. They had also adopted four children, but they still longed for their own biological offspring. They decided to try in vitro fertilization (IVF), a process that involves fertilizing an egg with sperm outside the body and then transferring the resulting embryo into the uterus. They were able to afford the procedure, which costs about $4,000 in Uganda, thanks to a donation from a relative who lives in the United States. The couple was overjoyed when they learned that Namukwaya was pregnant with twins, a boy and a girl. They named them Wasswa and Nakato, which mean first-born twin and second-born twin in Luganda, their native language. The pregnancy was not without risks, however. Namukwaya had to take hormone injections and blood thinners to prevent miscarriage and blood clots. She also had to undergo regular check-ups and scans to monitor the health of the babies and herself. She developed gestational diabetes and high blood pressure, which are common complications in older mothers. She also had to deal with the stigma and criticism from some people who thought that she was too old to have children and that she was playing God. Despite the challenges, Namukwaya delivered her twins by cesarean section at 37 weeks of gestation. The babies weighed 2.8 kg and 2.6 kg, respectively, and were healthy and normal. Namukwaya also recovered well from the surgery and

said that she felt great. She thanked God and the doctors for making her dream come true. "I am so happy and grateful to God for giving me this gift. I have waited for this moment for so long. I feel like I have been reborn," she said. Namukwaya is not the first woman to give birth at 70, though. According to the Guinness World Records, the oldest woman to give birth is Daljinder Kaur from India, who gave birth to a boy in 2016 at the age of 72. She also used IVF and donor eggs to conceive. However, Namukwaya is believed to be the oldest woman in Africa to give birth, and possibly the oldest woman in the world to give birth to twins. Her doctor, Dr. Tamale Ssali, the founder and director of the Women's Hospital International and Fertility Centre, said that this was a historic and extraordinary achievement. "This is a milestone in the history of reproductive medicine in Africa and the world. This is not just a medical success, but it also demonstrates the strength and resilience of the human spirit," he said. He also defended his decision to perform IVF on Namukwaya, saying that she was physically fit and mentally sound, and that she had the right to choose to have children. He said that he followed the ethical guidelines of the International Federation of Fertility Societies, which state that the upper age limit for IVF should be determined by the individual circumstances of each patient. However, not everyone agrees with Dr. Ssali's view. Many doctors and experts say that IVF is not recommended for women over 55, the natural age of menopause, because of the health risks for both the mother and the child. They also say that IVF is not a solution for infertility, but a way of bypassing it, and that it raises ethical and social issues, such as the welfare of the child, the parental responsibility of the parents, and the impact on the society. What do you think about this story? Do you think that Namukwaya was right to have children at 70? Do you think that IVF should have an age limit?