ArticleInternational journal for equity in health2024
Access to community-based eye services in Meru, Kenya: a cross-sectional equity analysis.
Article in International journal for equity in health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The effect of eye health system strengthening on the productivity of services: a before-and-after evaluation conducted in seven counties in Kenya.Frontiers in health services · 2026Article
- Identifying barriers and potential solutions to improve equitable access to community eye services in central Kenya: a rapid exploratory sequential mixed methods study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOver 80% of blindness in Kenya is due to curable or preventable causes and 7.5 m Kenyans currently need eye services. Embedding sociodemographic data collection into screening programmes could help identify the groups facing systematic barriers to care. We aimed to determine the sociodemographic characteristics that were associated with access among patients diagnosed with an eye problem and referred for treatment in the Vision Impact Programme, currently operating in Meru County.
methodWe used an embedded, pragmatic, cross-sectional design. A list of sociodemographic questions was developed with input from key stakeholders. The final question set included the following domains: age, gender, religion, marital status, disability, education, occupation, income, housing, assets, and health insurance. These were integrated into an app that is used to screen, refer, and check-in (register) participants within a major eye screening programme. We gathered data from 4,240 people who screened positive and were referred to their local outreach treatment clinic. We used logistic regression to identify which groups were facing the greatest barriers to accessing care.
resultsA quarter of those screened between April - July 2023 were found to have an eye problem and were referred, however only 46% of these people were able to access care. In our fully adjusted model, at the 0.05 level there were no statistically significant differences in the odds of attendance within the domains of disability, health insurance, housing, income, or religion. Strong evidence (p < 0.001) was found of an association between access and age, gender, and occupation; with males, younger adults, and those working in sales, services and manual jobs the least likely to receive care.
conclusionsAccess to essential eye services is low and unequal in Meru, with less than a third of those aged 18-44 receiving the care they need. Future work should explore the specific barriers faced by this group.
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