Weight-loss treatments boom as Kenyan attitudes to beauty change

In Kenya, where being overweight was once perceived as a sign of wealth and success, a drive to shed the pounds is now taking hold. At her weight-loss clinic in the capital, Dr Lyudmila Shchukina has a fully booked schedule. It has not always been this way for the Nairobi Bariatric Center, which she and her late husband – both from Ukraine – founded three decades ago.

When it started, the facility, which Shchukina proudly regards as a pioneer for weight-loss surgery in the country, was hardly receiving any clients. But the clinic is now thriving, seeing 10 to 15 patients a day. It’s a “boom”, the doctor tells the BBC one evening at the end of her shift.

Societal pressures may be one reason for the change. When political activist Francis Gaitho complained about being cyber-bullied over his weight, several people responded by telling him to “unfat”.