By the BBC's Muliro Telewa Nairobi

A woman dying of Aids is causing panic among men in a small village in western Kenya.

20-year-old Beatrice Akolo has asked her grandmother to make public the names of 20 men she claims she slept with and who maybe infected with HIV, the virus that causes Aids.

She wants the list to be read at her funeral in Kakamega district, 500 kilometres west of Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

Since then, hundreds of villagers have been flocking to her grandmother's homestead to find out if their names are on the list.

And it is not only men who are worried.

Many married women, fearing that their husbands may have strayed into the arms of Ms Akolo, are also curious about the list of shame.

Taboo

Bedridden Ms Akolo says she wants the list to serve as a warning to promiscuous people and those having unprotected sex.

She says the list contains the names of her sexual partners aged between 35 and 45.

And despite criticism from some anxious villagers, Ms Akolo's grandmother says she will respect her granddaughters wishes.

Although most Kenyans are aware of Aids, talking about the disease or acknowledging that a member of one's family died of Aids is still a taboo in many Kenyan communities.

In most cases, the cause of death for Aids victims is never disclosed and the reference commonly used is "death after a short illness".

The Kenyan Government says 700 people die of Aids-related diseases every day.

However, Ms Akolo's intentions to make public the names of her sexual partners have not gone down well with some Aids activists.

Consent

Dr Patrick Orege of the National Aids Control Council says Akolo's plan is unethical.

He insists that the names of people suffering from Aids should only be made public with their consent.

Last year, a Nairobi family made history by becoming the first ever in Kenya to declare that a family member had died of Aids in a newspaper advertisement.

The family's decision sparked a heated debate among Kenyans on whether it was right to declare the HIV status of a deceased person.