“They are perceived to be witches, and some are killed”: Community perceptions of elderly people living with Dementia in Kilifi, A Costal County in Kenya
Andrew Okoth Aballa, Linda N Khakali, Willie Njoroge, Lucy Wambui Kamau, Jasmit N Shah, Karen Blackmon, Chi Udeh‐Momoh, Olivera Nesic‐Taylor, Zul Merali, Edna N Bosire · 2025
Read “They are perceived to be witches, and some are killed”: Community perceptions of elderly people living with Dementia in Kilifi, A Costal County in Kenya by Andrew Okoth Aballa, Linda N Khakali, Willie Njoroge, Lucy Wambui Kamau, Jasmit N Shah, Karen Blackmon, Chi Udeh‐Momoh, Olivera Nesic‐Taylor, Zul Merali, Edna N Bosire (2025) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-11712340.txt.
Description
Andrew Aballa and co-authors record how a coastal Kenyan community views dementia in old age, in a 2025 study. More Africans now live into old age, which raises the risk of memory diseases. Rural views on dementia in Kenya had barely been studied.
The team held group talks with health workers, chiefs, and volunteers, and spoke one to one with leaders and healers. Many people had no word for dementia beyond a local term for forgetfulness. Some called it madness or childlike behavior, and some blamed curses or witchcraft. Elders so labeled faced stigma and, in the worst cases, violence. The authors call for public teaching that frames dementia as illness.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Andrew Okoth Aballa, Linda N Khakali, Willie Njoroge, Lucy Wambui Kamau, Jasmit N Shah, Karen Blackmon, Chi Udeh‐Momoh, Olivera Nesic‐Taylor, Zul Merali, Edna N Bosire |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 3 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |