Nairobi, April 22 -- Anne Loko walked into a dermatologist's office in 2021 looking for answers to what seemed like a routine skin problem. She had no idea that the visit would unravel a life-threatening illness, push her to the brink of death and end in a liver transplant thousands of kilometres from home.

"At first, the symptoms seemed cosmetic, almost trivial. I had flare-ups, dark patches and pigmentation," she recalls. "A punch biopsy revealed inflammation, and I was asked to do more blood work."

The results were alarming. Her platelets were low, her white blood cells were down, and she was anaemic. From dermatology, she was referred to a haematologist, where she underwent extensive screening for hepatitis, autoimmune conditions an...