Guinness Record: World Nonuplets return home to Mali from Morocco
Malian mother who gave birth to nine babies in Morocco last year returned home on Tuesday with her infants.
The babies broke the Guinness World Record for the most children delivered in a single birth to survive.
Ahead of the birth in May 2021, the mother Halima Cissé, now 27, was flown to Morocco in March for specialist care.
Halima Cissé gave birth to the five girls and four boys at a hospital in Casablanca, Morocco’s largest city.
Two months later, Adama, Oumou, Hawa, Kadidia, Fatouma, Oumar, Elhadji, Bah, and Mohammed VI were born prematurely via Caesarean section.
They were born 30 weeks into Mrs Cissé’s pregnancy and each weighed between 500 g and 1 kg.
The Malian government flew Ms Cissé to Morocco’s Ain Borja clinic after becoming concerned for her welfare and the chances of the babies’ survival.
Husband Abdelkader Arby, a sailor in the Malian Navy, remained in the West African nation during the birth to care for the couple’s three-year-old daughter, Souda.
The nonuplets celebrated their first birthday in Morocco. According to Guinness World Records, the family held a small birthday party with just a few nurses and neighbours from their apartment building.
Nonuplets are extremely rare and often complications occur in multiple births of this scale, which can result in some of the babies not surviving to full term.
Before returning they had been living with medical support in Casablanca.
Arriving back in the Malian capital, Bamako, in the early hours of Tuesday morning, the father Abdelkader Arby thanked the Malian government which he said had been helping the family financially.
“It’s a lot of work but Allah, who gave us this blessing, will help us in their upbringing and taking care of them,” he added.
The previous record for the most children delivered at a single birth to survive was set in 2009, when American Nadya Suleman, aka “Octomom,” had eight babies.
