20-year-old African woman gives birth to baby girl with progeria

Mustafa Al Zu’bi, Staff Reporter

A 20-year-old woman from Ngavungavu Village, Libode in South Africa, has gone viral after giving birth to a girl who looked older than her, causing a stir in the area.

The baby was born with an extremely rare medical condition and is reportedly suffering from progeria (also called Hutchinson-Gilford syndrome), which makes her look like an old woman.

The baby girl’s grandmother, 55, immediately saw the child was different as she observed that the baby’s skin had wrinkles on her face and looked like an elderly woman.

Even though the baby was born in June, her birth only became known in the previous week after her pictures were circulated on social media.

Siphokazi Mani-Lusithi, currently a member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature, has appealed to the general public to extend their support and help to the family of a baby girl born with progeria and not to mock the newborn.