Background: There is limited evidence on how implementation of peer support interventions influences effectiveness, particularly for individuals with diabetes. We conducted a cluster randomized controlled trial to compare the effectiveness of a peer-led health education package versus usual care to increase uptake of screening for diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods: Our process evaluation used a mixed-method design to investigate the recruitment and retention, reach, dose, fidelity, acceptability, and context of implementation, and was guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). We reviewed trial documents, conducted semi-structured interviews with key informants (n = 10) and conducted four focus group discussions with participants in both arms of the trial. Three analysts undertook CFIR theory-driven content analysis of the qualitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed to provide descriptive statistics relevant to the objectives of the process evaluation. Results: The trial had positive implementation outcomes, 100% retention of clusters and 96% retention for participants, 83% adherence to delivery of content of group talks (fidelity), and 78% attendance (reach) to at least 50% (3/6) of the group talks (dose). The data revealed that intervention characteristics, outer setting, inner setting, individual characteristics, and process (all the constructs of CFIR) influenced the implementation. There were more facilitators than barriers to the implementation. Facilitators included the relative advantage of the intervention compared with current practice (intervention characteristics); awareness of the growing prioritization of diabetes in the national health policy framework (outer setting); tension for change due to the realization of the vulnerability to vision loss from DR (inner setting); a strong collective sense of accountability of peer supporters to implement the intervention (individual characteristics); and regular feedback on the progress with implementation (process). Potential barriers included the need to queue at the eye clinic (intervention characteristic), travel inconveniences (inner setting), and socio-political disruption (outer setting). Conclusions: The intervention was implemented with high retention, reach, fidelity, and dose. The CFIR provided a valuable framework for evaluating contextual factors that influenced implementation and helped to understand what adaptations may be needed during scale up. Trial registration: Pan African Clinical Trials Registry: PACTR201707002430195 registered 15 July 2017

The prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is rising in low- and middle-income countries, including Kenya, disproportionately to the rest of the world. Our objective was to quantify patient payments to obtain NCD screening, diagnosis, and treatment services in the public and private sector in Kenya and evaluate patients’ ability to pay for the services. We collected payment data on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, breast and cervical cancer, and respiratory diseases from Kenyatta National Hospital, the main tertiary public hospital, and the Kibera South Health Center—a public outpatient facility, and private sector practitioners and hospitals. We developed detailed treatment frameworks for each NCD and used an itemization cost approach to estimate payments. Patient affordability metrics were derived from Kenyan government surveys and national datasets. Results compare public and private costs in U.S. dollars. NCD screening costs ranged from $4 to $36, while diagnostic procedures, particularly for breast and cervical cancer, were substantially more expensive. Annual hypertension medication costs ranged from $26 to $234 and $418 to $987 in public and private facilities, respectively. Stroke admissions ($1,874 versus $16,711) and dialysis for chronic kidney disease ($5,338 versus $11,024) were among the most expensive treatments. Cervical and breast cancer treatment cost for stage III (curative approach) was about $1,500 in public facilities and more than $7,500 in the private facilities. A large proportion of Kenyans aged 15 to 49 years do not have health insurance, which makes NCD services unaffordable for most people given the overall high cost of services relative to income (average household expenditure per adult is $413 per annum). There is substantial variation in patient costs between the public and private sectors. Most NCD diagnosis and treatment costs, even in the public sector, represent a substantial economic burden that can result in catastrophic expenditures.

Many low- and middle-income countries use national eye-care plans to guide efforts to strengthen eye-care services. The World Health Organization recognizes that evidence is essential to inform these plans. We assessed how evidence was incorporated in a sample of 28 national eye-care plans generated since the Universal eye health: a global action plan 2014-2019 was endorsed by the World Health Assembly in 2013. Most countries (26, 93%) cited estimates of the prevalence of blindness and 18 countries (64%) had set targets for the cataract surgical rate in their plan. Other evidence was rarely cited or used to set measurable targets. No country cited evidence from systematic reviews or solution-based research. This limited use of evidence reflects its low availability, but also highlights incomplete use of existing evidence. For example, despite sex-disaggregated data and cataract surgical coverage being available from surveys in 20 countries (71%), these data were reported in the eye health plans of only nine countries (32%). Only three countries established sex-disaggregated indicators and only one country had set a target for cataract surgical coverage for future monitoring. Countries almost universally recognized the need to strengthen health information systems and almost one-third planned to undertake operational or intervention research. Realistic strategies need to be identified and supported to translate these intentions into action. To gain insights into how a country can strengthen its evidence-informed approach to eye-care planning, we reflect on the process underway to develop Kenya's seventh national plan (2019-2023).

The Sustainable Development Goals aim to leave no one behind. We explored the hypothesis that women without a living spouse—including those who are widowed, divorced, separated, and never married—are a vulnerable group being left behind by cataract services. Using national cross-sectional blindness surveys from Nigeria (2005–2007; n = 13,591) and Sri Lanka (2012–2014; n = 5779) we categorized women and men by marital status (married/not-married) and place of residence (urban/rural) concurrently. For each of the eight subgroups we calculated cataract blindness, cataract surgical coverage (CSC), and effective cataract surgical coverage (eCSC). Not-married women, who were predominantly widows, experienced disproportionate cataract blindness—in Nigeria they were 19% of the population yet represented 56% of those with cataract blindness; in Sri Lanka they were 18% of the population and accounted for 54% of those with cataract blindness. Not-married rural women fared worst in access to services—in Nigeria their CSC of 25.2% (95% confidence interval, CI 17.8–33.8%) was far lower than the best-off subgroup (married urban men, CSC 80.0% 95% CI 56.3–94.3); in Sri Lanka they also lagged behind (CSC 68.5% 95% CI 56.6–78.9 compared to 100% in the best-off subgroup). Service quality was also comparably poor for rural not-married women—eCSC was 8.9% (95% CI 4.5–15.4) in Nigeria and 37.0% (95% CI 26.0–49.1) in Sri Lanka. Women who are not married are a vulnerable group who experience poor access to cataract services and high cataract blindness. To “leave no one behind”, multi-faceted strategies are needed to address their needs.

Background: E-learning has been widely adopted as a teaching and learning approach in medical education internationally. However, its adoption in low- and middle-income countries is still at an infantile stage. The use of e-learning may help to overcome some of the barriers to access to quality education and provide flexible, low-cost, user-centred, and easily updated learning. To address the need for research education during the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed and implemented an e-learning course for students enrolled in higher diploma courses at the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC). In this paper, we report our experience teaching the online research course in resource-constrained settings to enable other medical educators, students and institutions in similar settings to understand the most appropriate approaches to incorporating e-learning interventions. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that reviewed the experiences of learners and lecturers on a research course at Kenya Medical Training College. All higher diploma students admitted to the college in the 2020/21 academic year were invited to take part in the study. We also included all lecturers that were involved in the coordination and facilitation of the course. We analysed qualitative and quantitative data that were collected from the e-learning platform, an online course-evaluation form and reports from course lecturers. Results: We enrolled 933 students on the online research course. These students had joined 44 higher diploma courses in 11 campuses of the college. The students struggled to complete synchronous e-learning activities on the e-learning platform. Only 53 and 45% of the students were able to complete the pretest and the posttest, respectively. Four themes were identified through a thematic analysis of qualitative data (1) Students gained research competencies (2) Students appreciated the use of diverse e-learning technologies (3) Students felt overwhelmed by the research course (4) Technological challenges reduce the effectiveness of online learning. Conclusion: Our results suggest that e-learning can be used to teach complex courses, such as research in resource-constrained settings. However, faculty should include more asynchronous e-learning activities to enhance teaching and learning and improve student experiences.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a significant public health concern that is potentially blinding. Clinical practice guidelines recommend annual eye examination of patients with diabetes for early detection of DR. Our aim was to identify the demand-side factors that influence uptake of eye examination among patients already utilizing diabetes services in three counties of Kenya. We designed a clinic based cross-sectional study and used three-stage sampling to select three counties, nine diabetes clinics in these counties and 270 patients with diabetes attending these clinics. We interviewed the participants using a structured questionnaire. The two outcomes of interest were ‘eye examination in the last 12 months’ and ‘eye examination ever’. The exposure variables were the characteristics of participants living with diabetes. The participants had a mean age of 53.3 years (SD 14.1) and an average interval of 4 months between visits to the diabetes clinic. Only 25.6% of participants had ever had an eye examination in their lifetime, while 13.3% had it in the preceding year. The independent predictors of uptake were referral by diabetes services, patient knowledge of diabetes eye complications, comorbid hypertension and urban or semi-urban residence. We conclude that access to retinal examination for DR is low in all three counties. An intervention that increases the knowledge of patients with diabetes about eye complications and promotes referral of patients with diabetes for eye examination may improve access to annual eye examination for DR.