Woman who gave birth to 44 children banned from having more babies

In a rare case, a woman in Uganda has been banned from conceiving any more, after giving birth to 44 children.

Mariam Nabatanzi has been dubbed ‘the world’s most fertile woman’ by locals after she managed to give birth to four sets of twins, five sets of triplets and five quadruplets.

But, doctors in Uganda have banned Nabatanzi from giving birth to any more children,

The single mother, who earlier this year was the subject of an Al Jazeera mini-documentary, works a handful of jobs to take care of her 38 living children.

Nabatanzi works as a tailor, hairdresser and herbalist to support her family, and has said that, above all, she wants her children to receive an education. Dr. Chales Kiggundu, a gynaecologist interviewed in the documentary, said Nabatanzi’s incredible number of pregnancies were the result of hyperovulation, which is when the body releases more than one egg during the menstrual cycle. The phenomenon increases a woman’s chances of having twins, triplets or quadruplets.

“You find that some of the women have the potential of having between 10 to 12 eggs that come at the beginning of the month,” Kiggundu said.

“Some of them have the potential to have more than one fertilisation take place.”