Nine kids were born to a 25-year-old Malian mother, two more than the number of newborns that the physicians had found during scans. In Morocco, Halima Cissé gave birth to the nonuplets. For specialized care, the government of Mali flew her there. “I’m really pleased,” her spouse said. “My wife and the babies [five girls and four boys] are doing well.” In 2009, a woman in the United States gave birth to eight children, setting a new record for the most live births at a single birth. There have been two earlier reports of nonuplets; one set was born to a woman in Australia in 1971, while the other set was born to a woman in Malaysia in 1999. However, none of the babies lived longer than a few days. Even when it was believed that Ms. Cissé was just carrying septuplets, her pregnancy fascinated people in Mali, according to the Reuters news agency. The government stepped in because doctors in the West African country were worried about her well-being and the infants’ prospects of survival. On March 30, after spending two weeks at a hospital in Bamako, the capital of Mali, it was decided to transfer Ms. Cissé to Morocco. She delivered birth by Caesarean surgery on Tuesday, the minister said, following five weeks of treatment at the Moroccan clinic. Adjudant Kader Arby, her husband, claims he has been in daily contact with his wife in Morocco and is not concerned about the future of the family, even though he and their older daughter are still in Mali.
