For five years, Rose Achieng, a teenage girl from Siaya County, lived under a diagnosis that defined her childhood, dictated her treatment, and shaped her family’s hopes. She was treated for sickle cell disease that she did not have.
Today, at just 16 years old, Achieng is battling advanced rheumatic heart disease, a condition that has severely damaged two of her heart valves and forced her to drop out of school.