Adapting clinical practice guidelines for diabetic retinopathy in Kenya: process and outputs.

Background: The use of clinical practice guidelines envisages augmenting quality and best practice in clinical outcomes. Generic guidelines that are not adapted for local use often fail to produce these outcomes. Adaptation is a systematic and rigorous process that should maintain the quality and validity of the guideline, while making it more usable by the targeted users.

Use of validated community-based trachoma trichiasis (TT) case finders to measure the total backlog and detect when elimination threshold is achieved: a TT methodology paper.

Introduction: The World Health Organization recommends TT surveys to be conducted in adults aged 15+ years (TT 15 survey) and certifies elimination of TT as a public health problem when there is less than 1 unknown case per 1,000 people of all ages. There is no standard survey method to accurately confirm this elimination prevalence threshold of 0.1% because rare conditions require large and expensive prevalence survey samples.

Knowledge, practices and perceptions of trachoma and its control among communities of Narok County, Kenya.

Background: Trachoma is the leading infectious cause of blindness in the world. It is commonly found in cultural groups with poor hygiene. Trachoma control includes urgery, ntibiotics, acial cleanliness and nvironmental Improvement (SAFE).

Collateral benefits arising from mass administration of azithromycin in the control of active trachoma in resource limited settings.

Introduction: The benefits of the use of antibiotics in the mass treatment for active trachoma and other diseases have been documented, but the secondary effects arising from such a programme have not been fully elucidated. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential secondary benefits arising from the use of azithromycin in mass treatment of active trachoma in an economically challenged Kenyan nomadic community.

Methods: Health information reports for January 2005 to December 2010 were reviewed to determine the annual trends of infectious diseases in the two districts, Narok and Transmara.

What is the appropriate age range of individuals to be included in a survey to estimate the prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis?

Introduction: A survey to determine the prevalence of trachomatous trichiasis (TT) requires a large sample size and the recommended participant age is ≥15 years. This study sought to establish the appropriate age range of individuals to be included in TT surveys.

Methods: Data from six previous surveys of adults ≥15 years old were reanalysed.

Are blind people more likely to accept free cataract surgery? A study of vision-related quality of life and visual acuity in Kenya.

Purpose: To determine possible differences in visual acuity, socio-demographic factors and vision-related Quality of Life (QoL) between people accepting and people refusing sponsored cataract surgery.

Methods: Three hundred and fifty seven local residents with visually impairing cataract, presenting at screening sites in Kwale District, Kenya were clinically assessed and interviewed. The World Health Organization (WHO) QoL-questionnaire WHO/Prevention of Blindness and Deafness Visual Functioning Questionnaire 20 (PBD-VFQ20) was used to determine the vision-related QoL.