Archives: Adolescent

Meet Sheila Sheila Chipenge is 14 years old, living with type 1 diabetes in rural Malawi. When Sheila first began to experience symptoms, she struggled to find an accurate diagnosis. She was finally diagnosed by Partners In Health’s sister organization in Malawi, Abwenzi Pa Za Umoyo (APZU) in June 2014 and has been managing her […]

Meet Fortuna Fortuna Messaye is a 14-year-old girl from a small rural village in Ethiopia. Four years ago, she started to feel extremely tired and lightheaded. As the local hospital did not have the equipment needed to diagnose or treat her illness, she and her mother traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city. After visiting […]

Meet Tigist Tigist Gebeyas is 20 years old and lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with her brother Lidetu and her parents. She began having seizures when she was nine years old, but it was unclear to her family and doctors what was causing them. Following a severe burn accident, additional tests diagnosed Lidetu with epilepsy. […]

Meet Estifanos Estifanos Balcha, now 20 years old, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was a young child living in Addis Ababa. For many years, Estifanos did not have consistent access to insulin and he severely struggled with managing his condition, doing so without family support and homeless for much of his childhood. […]

Meet Beza Beza Tilahoun is 18 years old, and currently resides in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Two years ago, Beza began to experience unusual symptoms, “I started to get short of breath. At night, I started to have a hard time breathing. There were nights I just sat up all night.” Beza fainted at her home […]

Meet Dipesh Dipesh Rai is 17 years old and lives in central Nepal. When he was 14, he started experiencing severe headaches and fever, his feet felt numb, and “I felt my heart trembling.” His family took him first to a shaman, then to the closest hospital, which referred him to a hospital in Kathmandu. […]

Meet Kharsang Kharsang is 14 years old from rural Nepal and has been living with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) for several years. She used to feel regular joint pain and over time, her face and legs began to swell. After regular vomiting and difficulty breathing, Kharsang visited a health facility and was told she had […]