Morara Kebaso: Many shamed for HIV may have died of undiagnosed cancer
By Mustafa Juma, July 20, 2025Political commentator Morara Kebaso has sparked an important national conversation about stigma, misdiagnosis, and the long-lasting emotional trauma in Kenyan communities, especially rural villages, where health awareness was once dangerously low.
In a heartfelt reflection shared via his official X account on Saturday, July 19, 2025, Kebaso shared his childhood memories of a time when most deaths, particularly of individuals who appeared thin or frail, were automatically assumed to be due to HIV/AIDS.
“When I was growing up, health awareness was very low in our village. Anyone who died after looking very thin and frail was immediately thought to have died of HIV/AIDS or ukimwi or enyamoreo in my local dialect. Some people could not even mention the word; they just say “oborwaire obonene,” translated to mean the big disease,” he wrote.
Morara on stigma
Morara further lamented that many families were unfairly shamed, and countless children orphaned by such deaths grew up under a cloud of stigma and whispered judgement.
“There are so many families and orphans who are traumatised to this day because everyone thinks their parents died of something shameful associated with promiscuity. When in actual sense the parents may have died of cancer, which many people did not know about at that time,” Morara stated.
Tribute
Kebaso’s message ends with a compassionate tribute: “May the Lord comfort you and repay you for the ridicule you have endured all these years.”
His comments serve as a powerful reminder of the need for improved health education, access to diagnostic services, and the importance of confronting stigma with empathy and facts.
