Mum of 44 kids banned from having more children

Mariam Nabatanzi, 39, was married off at the age of 12, delivering twins a year later.
Mariam Nabatanzi, 39, was married off at the age of 12, delivering twins a year later. Photo credit: Getty Images

A Ugandan mother who has given birth to 44 children has been prohibited from having any more kids.

Mariam Nabatanzi, 39, was married off at the age of 12, delivering twins a year later.

After her first children, Nabatanzi gave birth to five more sets of twins, four sets of triplets and five sets of quadruplets due to her abnormally large ovaries.

The 39-year-old was abandoned by her husband three years ago, leaving her as the sole carer of her surviving 38 children.

Nabatanzi lives with her children in four cramped houses with corrugated iron roofs, The Sun reports. They live in a village surrounded by coffee fields, roughly 50-kilometres north of Uganda's capital, Kampala.

Doctors have now taken action to prevent Nabatanzi from conceiving any more children.

She told local media her uterus had been "cut from inside", according to the outlet.

The mother has been told her ovaries are unusually large and was advised by doctors not to take contraceptive pills due to health concerns. 

She has lost six children, her last child dying during childbirth three years ago.

The family are living in extreme poverty as Nabatanzi does whatever she can to earn money, including hairdressing, brewing local gin, selling herbal medicine, event decorating and selling scrap metal, The Sun reports.

The mother's extreme fertility is believed to be hereditary, caused by hyper-ovulation.

Newshub.