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 is an extraordinary feat to give birth to twins” for a 70-year-old mother, Doctor 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, as a “miracle” on Wednesday. The mother and babies are in good health and are still under observation in a facility in the capital Kampala, continued Edward Tamale Sali. Safina Namukwaya usually lives in rural Masaka, about 120 kilometers west of the capital.

The septuagenarian only gave birth to a daughter three years ago, after being described as a “cursed woman” for having previously failed to have children. With her first husband, who died in 1992, she had no children. Ms. Namukwaya's current partner, whom she met in 1996, however, did not come to attend the birth, much to her dismay. “Maybe he is not happy that I gave birth to twins ... for fear of the responsibilities that come with it,” she said.