"We only thought about eye care when it became a serious problem," recalls Raso Chari, a village elder from Chimboni Maweni in Kilifi County.
"If you developed eye complications, you had to travel to Malindi or even Mombasa for eye treatment. For many of us, that was simply too expensive. As long as someone could still manage their daily activities, life went on and eye care was pushed aside."
For many families across rural Kilifi, limited last-mile healthcare access meant poor eyesight was often something to live with rather than treat. The cost of travel, consultations and treatment meant that seeking specialised care was delayed until vision problems began affecting daily life.
The challenge exposed a critical gap in access to eye care. Communities needed affordable specialised services closer to home, while local health facilities needed stronger links to providers with the expertise and resources to manage more complex cases.
Today, that gap is beginning to close.
Through the Eye Focus Project, Wananchi Group Hospital, (Level 4) and Mtondia Medical Centre (Level 2) have joined forces to create a more connected pathway to eye care. While Wananchi brings ophthalmology services, Mtondia offers a trusted community presence and proximity to patients who would otherwise struggle to access care.
"Our goals aligned," says Michael Mwakimu, Operations Director at Wananchi Hospital. "We wanted to deliver quality eye services at affordable rates to communities where specialised eye care services were not available."
By combining expertise with reaching underserved communities, the partnership is helping connect more people to the care they need, when they need it.
For communities like Chari's, the biggest difference is not just access to affordable treatment. It is knowing where to turn when eye problems arise.
Healthcare workers at Mtondia Medical Centre are strengthening their capacity to identify eye conditions, provide initial support and guide patients to appropriate specialised services. This enables earlier intervention and helps patients navigate the healthcare system more effectively.
For Mtondia Medical Centre, the partnership has also strengthened its role within the community.
"It has positioned Mtondia Medical Centre as a key provider of eye health services within local communities in Kilifi," says Eric Mwambire, Hospital Administrator at Mtondia Medical Centre.
By strengthening connections between community-based providers and specialised services, the partnership is contributing to a more responsive and coordinated eye health system while improving last-mile healthcare access. Where patients once faced long journeys and uncertain referral options, they are increasingly able to access support closer to home and connect more easily to specialised care when needed.
For Chari and others in her community, the difference is practical and immediate.
For years, distance and cost often determined whether people sought help for eye problems. Today, having a trusted health facility nearby means communities have a clearer starting point for accessing affordable care and understanding their options.
The benefits extend beyond patients. The partnership is also helping local healthcare providers respond more effectively to community needs.
"We are better positioned to respond to community needs, while Wananchi can extend specialised services to populations that have historically been difficult to reach," says Eric
What once felt out of reach is becoming easier to access. Communities now have a trusted local entry point to eye care, while healthcare providers are better connected to the expertise and services their patients need.
The result is a model where improved community access and sustainable healthcare delivery reinforce one another.
The partnership between Wananchi Hospital and Mtondia Medical Centre demonstrates how local institutions can work together to address challenges that neither could solve alone.
Rather than creating parallel services, the approach strengthens existing healthcare providers, builds local capacity and expands access through trusted community networks.
For communities across Kilifi, this means fewer barriers to quality eye care and greater confidence that support is available closer to home.
In places where distance, cost and limited specialist services have long determined who receives care, the partnership offers a different approach: strengthen the connections between existing providers and bring services closer to the people who need them.
More broadly, it demonstrates how healthcare access challenges can be addressed through collaboration rather than duplication. By linking specialised expertise with trusted community-based providers, existing institutions can reach underserved populations more effectively while strengthening the healthcare system as a whole.
As demand for affordable and accessible healthcare continues to grow, models like this offer a practical pathway for strengthening last-mile healthcare access sustainably. For Kilifi, the partnership is improving access to eye care. For Kenya's healthcare sector, it provides a powerful example of how private-sector collaboration can help build more inclusive, resilient and responsive healthcare systems.
The Eye Focus Project is implemented by Swisscontact and funded by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP) via The Fred Hollows Foundation, with support from the Novartis Foundation.