The world-record holder for being the only nonuplets – nine babies born at the same time – have safely returned home to Mali after spending the first 19 months of their lives in Morocco.
The nonuplet’s mother, 27-year-old Halima Cissé, flew to Morocco for specialist care ahead of the birth in May 2021.
The babies broke the Guinness World Record for the most children delivered in a single birth to survive. The babies – five girls and four boys – were born via Caesarean section at 30 weeks.
They had been living with medical support in Casablanca before returning home to Mali.
After 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.
Health Minister Diéminatou Sangara said the government will continue to support the family.
In a report by AFP news agency, the girls named Kadidia, Fatouma, Hawa, Adama and Oumou – and the boys – named Mohammed VI, Oumar, Elhadji and Bah – weighed between 500g and 1kg (1.1lb and 2.2lb) at birth.
There were risks that they could have developed health problems due to their premature birth and they spent the first months of their lives in hospital. They were then moved to an apartment where they received round-the-clock care from the Ain Borja clinic.
They celebrated their first birthday last May.
“They all have different characters. Some are quiet, while other make more noise and cry a lot. Some want to be picked up all the time. They are all very different, which is entirely normal,” said Mr. Arby.
The father of the nonuplets said that they had become famous in Mali and people were “very keen to see the babies with their own eyes.”
