Kenya hails first test tube girls

The baby girls appeared healthy and in fine voice

Doctors in Kenya are celebrating the birth of the country's first test tube babies, two girls born in Nairobi.

The babies were born to women aged 30 and 35 at a private hospital, the Daily Nation newspaper said.

Mothers and babies were all reportedly in good health, a matron at the hospital told AFP news agency.

Dr Joshua Noreh, who oversaw the births, hailed them as a landmark for Kenya, 28 years after the first test tube baby was born in the UK.

Louise Brown was born in Oldham in 1978, the first of more than one million babies conceived through in vitro fertilisation (IVF) around the world.

'Relief'

The two mothers told the Daily Nation of their joy at the successful births.

This is the moment I have always waited for 'Jane'

One, known only as Agnes, had previously suffered an ectopic pregnancy, where the foetus begins to grow in the fallopian tube leading from the ovary to the womb.

"It had been a journey of agony, but today God is going to make a day of happiness and full of hope," she said.

The second mother, known as Jane, described the birth as the greatest moment of her life.

"This is the moment I have always waited for and for the first time in my life I feel a great sense of relief and hope," she said.

'Victory'

Some Kenyan women have undergone successful IVF treatment in the past, but they have always needed to travel to clinics in neighbouring countries such as Uganda or South Africa.

Matron Christine Mutebi proudly showed off the new arrivals

Both paid in the region of 300,000 Kenyan shillings (£2,275) for the procedure.

In IVF treatment, an individual egg from the mother is fertilised in a laboratory with sperm from the father.

The fertilised embryo is then implanted into the mother's womb and allowed to develop naturally.

Dr Noreh's wife Joy, who works as a nurse at the clinic, said the births were a "victory".

"These women trusted that we can do something for them and we thank God for that."