Mali Woman Expecting 7 Babies Gives Birth to 9

A 25-year-old Malian woman has given birth to nine babies at a hospital in Morocco. 

Halima Cisse, who hails from the northern part of the West African nation, was flown to Morocco by Mali’s government on March 30th for better health care. 

She was initially thought to have been carrying septuplets but she successfully delivered nonuplets through Cesarean Section on Tuesday.

In a statement, Mali’s health ministry said Cisse was blessed with five girls and four boys, adding that all the nine babies and the mother are “doing well.”
 
“The mother and babies are doing well so far,” Mali’s Health Minister Fanta Siby told AFP.

Siby said the mother and the babies are expected to return home in several weeks.

She offered her congratulations to “the medical teams of Mali and Morocco, whose professionalism is at the origin of the happy outcome of this pregnancy.”

Local press reports said doctors had been concerned about Cisse’s health and her babies’ chances of survival.

Mali’s health ministry said ultrasound examinations done in both Mali and Morocco had indicated that Cisse was carrying seven babies.

Cases of women successfully carrying septuplets to term are rare but nonuplets are even rarer.