Kenya’s President William Ruto launched the Social Health Authority (SHA) in October 2024 to replace the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) as the state’s health insurance provider, prompting criticism from his opponents. Yet a TikTok video that claims to show him “preparing” a hospital patient for the press launch has been created with AI software from an image taken in 2019. The original photo shows Ruto, who was then deputy president, visiting a victim of a terror attack.
“Behind the scenes, Ruto spotted preparing, a patient, to launch SHA (sic),” read a TikTok post published on April 19, 2025, and shared more than 100 times.
Screenshot of the altered post, taken on April 23, 2025
The caption alongside the video claimed Ruto was “mocked” live on television during a panel discussion hosted by Citizen TV on April 17, 2025.
Although the discussion was unrelated to Kenya’s new healthcare system, one panellist said Ruto had “launched” — meaning directed — a patient in a public relations stunt to prove that the SHA was working well (archived here).
A day earlier, Ruto had commissioned the first Kenya Defence Forces hospital for the general public (archived here).
The clip appears to show Ruto standing next to a hospital bed interacting with a patient as he adjusts her bed cover. Two doctors stand next to him, while three other individuals in suits are seen reflected in the mirror above the patient’s bed. Beeping sounds can be heard in the background.
The post was published by an account — with more than 49,000 followers — which predominantly shares AI-generated content.
New state insurance scheme
The Kenyan government officially launched the SHA on October 1, 2024, as part of its plan to expand access to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) (archived here and here).
The new system, which is mandatory for all Kenyan residents including expatriates staying for over a year, aims to fill the gaps in the former NHIF by expanding the scope of care to include new services such as cancer and common health conditions screening. It also offers a wider range of outpatient services and includes standardised surgical tariffs across all healthcare providers (archived here).
But since its inception, the insurance scheme has been criticised for poor communication, an unclear implementation framework and its procurement process (archived here and here).
Despite its shortcomings, Ruto has continued to defend the SHA and has urged Kenyans to register for the new health plan (archived here and here).
The TikTok video claiming to show Ruto using a patient to promote SHA is, however, doctored.
Old image animated
AFP conducted reverse image searches on keyframes from the clip and found a photo depicting the same event published on Facebook by Kenyan news outlet Citizen TV on January 17, 2019 (archived here).
“DP Ruto visits victims of 14 Riverside terror attack,” read the post.
Several clues point to the fact that this image was animated into a video using AI software.
The first frame is an exact match of the original photo and is typical of how photo-to-video AI tools such as Vidfly and Invideo AI work – by starting with an image and adding a prompt to generate a video.
Screenshots comparing the altered post (left) and the original photo published by Citizen TV
One second into the video, the patient’s left arm goes missing, only to appear after Ruto seemingly adjusts the blue bed cover.
Screenshots of the altered post showing the patient’s missing left hand (left) and the moment it appears
A second later, the patient appears to push the blanket. Both her fingers and Ruto’s seem to distort as they move.
Screenshots from the altered post showing Ruto’s and the patient’s hands morphing as they move
Further searches revealed a genuine video of Ruto’s hospital visit shared on Facebook by a Kenyan news blog Thika Town Today on January 17, 2019 (archived here).
In it, Ruto can be seen shaking the same patient’s hand while resting one hand on her knee and then pulling away, unlike in the TikTok video where he starts fluffing the blue bed cover.
The white and blue-striped sheet on the patient’s bed to her left was also edited out of the TikTok video. Another discrepancy is with her left hand: it remains under the covers in the video from 2019 but is visible in the TikTok clip.
Screenshots comparing the altered clip (left) and the original video published in 2019
Citizen TV also published footage of Ruto’s 2019 visit to the Aga Khan Hospital in Nairobi (archived here).
Although not identical to the Thika Town video, both sets of footage feature some of the same patients as well as Ruto’s interview with the media.