A girl in the lower levels of Uganda’s education is said to have requested her father to stop dropping her at school because her friends were always asking why she was been taken to school by her great grandfather.
She didn’t want to explain that indeed it was her father and not her great grandfather dropping her every morning. I remembered this story after the euphoria that greeted Shafinah Namukwaya, the 70-year-old woman who is said to have given birth to twins in Kampala recently.
Namukwaya used IVF to deliver the twins at a fertility centre in the city. The stories in the media claimed that Namukwaya, a resident of Masaka, indicated that she couldn’t be able to look after the children as she didn’t have the resources to do so. Her husband, ostensibly older than her, didn’t want to know and never turned up at the facility to check on her.
She used donated eggs, which means that she simply carried the babies. If a DNA was to be done, the children wouldn’t be hers. Using technology, women can give birth at even more advanced ages. In 2019, a 74-year-old woman gave birth in India. If you read more about this on the internet, there are sources that say even at more advanced age than 74, a woman can still give birth.
The question is at what cost? Not just money but her life as well. And the life of the child. Namukwaya already indicated that she would struggle to look after the twins because of finances. So, was she duped by the facility centre for self-promotion? Is life all about having children? Won’t the twins be put under some psychological torture when they realize their mother is at the age of their great grandmother like the girl I talked about above?
Some will argue that these questions wouldn’t be asked if the person involved was a man. Indeed, men even at 90 years old have been said to give birth and they haven’t been questioned about it. But we should. Why would a 90-year-old man want to give birth to a child? Like they ask in Kampala these days, afaki n’ensi? Literally meaning, what is the point?
Why bring a child on earth at such advanced age that the only result is of them being orphaned at a tender age? Uganda’s life expectancy is at 62. But the glee with which the fertility centre wanted the information out, means there could be a market they want to tap into — older persons doing whatever is possible to give birth.
First, it is a danger to their lives. Carrying a pregnancy at such an advanced age may result into serious consequences. Namukwaya is lucky to be alive but she may not survive the impact of this pregnancy for long. It will certainly take a toll on her. If it doesn’t, raising the children certainly will.
Uganda is already highly populated and projected to reach nearly 100 million people by 2050. The impact this will have on the economy
is tremendous and unless we significantly plan for this population, the majority of them will be poorer than the church mouse. One reason 70-year-olds, male or female, shouldn’t be encouraged to give birth even if they are able to pay for it.
People shouldn’t just give birth for the sake of it by giving some flimsy reasons. In 2019, at age 67, Namukwaya gave birth to her first child. If giving birth was her main issue, wasn’t one child enough? She told a daily newspaper that “having one child is risky.” So, she looked for another child and got two instead. Aren’t three children risky? I know a family where eight siblings died on the same day!
But this article isn’t about Namukwaya. It is about encouraging people to give birth at the right age. We must discourage teens from giving birth but also those who are 50 years old and above. If you want to live a good life especially in old age, the last thing you should be thinking about is having a baby.
One of the key challenges for most parents in Uganda including those still with jobs is school fees for their children. Many parents become anxious during the beginning of the academic term when they have to pay the fees. Even those who take their children to public primary schools that are under the Universal Primary Education program, are expected to pay something such as PTA (parent-teacher association).
The more most people grow older especially after the age of 60 when they start to retire, the less money they make. And mostly what they make goes into their healthcare. It is only the wealthy that become richer after retirement.
That is why we must not celebrate 70-year-olds giving birth. We must discourage them. Fertility centres should not just enable anyone with money to give birth as well.
The writer is a communication and visibility consultant.
Credit: Observer
