At KCCO, we believe that sharing practical knowledge is just as powerful as delivering care.
Our growing resource library supports eye care professionals, program managers, policymakers, researchers and educators across Africa with tools designed to strengthen systems, train teams and scale sustainable impact.
Whether you’re developing a national plan, launching a hospital program, or conducting training in remote areas. These resources are built to inform and empower your work.
This policy forum article highlights how improving eye care in Sub-Saharan Africa requires more than clinical training. It argues for the urgent need to build nonclinical management capacity—covering human resources, finances, outreach, and planning—to effectively implement the VISION 2020 goals and eliminate avoidable blindness.
This systematic review evaluates the practice of task-shifting trichiasis surgery from specialized eye health workers to general health workers in trachoma-endemic countries. It examines surgical outcomes, productivity, and implementation challenges. While generalists can perform surgery with comparable quality to specialists, their productivity remains low due to systemic issues like poor supervision, lack of supplies, and inadequate support. The review emphasizes the need for focused training, better oversight, and dedicated personnel to effectively reduce the burden of trachomatous trichiasis.
This review examines how shifting basic eye care tasks to general health workers in Africa impacts service quality. It finds that due to poor training, equipment, and support, task shifting in eye care is largely ineffective. The study recommends rethinking who should deliver primary eye care and how to better support them.
This review from the explores the evidence supporting task-shifting in eye care, specifically the training and use of non-physician cataract surgeons (NPCS) to address cataract-related blindness in Sub-Saharan Africa. Given the shortage and poor distribution of ophthalmologists, NPCS (often clinical officers or ophthalmic nurses with additional training) have been deployed in several countries to increase access to cataract surgery. The report analyzes their effectiveness, quality of surgical outcomes, patient satisfaction, and productivity, with case studies from Kenya, The Gambia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Ghana. While the evidence shows that NPCS can deliver high-quality surgeries, particularly when well-trained, supervised, and supported, issues such as post-training deployment, resource availability, and systemic health barriers remain challenges. The review concludes that while NPCS are not a universal solution, they are a viable strategy in underserved areas and should be integrated thoughtfully into national eye health programs.
This in-depth review, prepared by the Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology (KCCO), explores the concept of task-shifting in eye care — specifically the training and utilization of non-physician cataract surgeons (NPCS) to address the shortage of ophthalmologists in sub-Saharan Africa. The report presents evidence on the effectiveness, quality, productivity, and acceptance of NPCS based on studies and data from countries including Kenya, Tanzania, The Gambia, Malawi, and Ghana. Findings show that NPCS can deliver acceptable surgical outcomes, especially when trained well, supervised, and supported by strong health systems. However, challenges remain with post-training support, rural deployment, regulatory frameworks, and overall system capacity. The report concludes that while NPCS are a practical solution in some contexts, they must be integrated into well-supported eye health programs to be effective and sustainable.
A curated list of published articles from 1995 to 2018 addressing various aspects of eye care and ophthalmology in Madagascar. Topics include cataract services, childhood blindness, pediatric eye surgery, ocular trauma, task shifting in primary eye care, and rare ophthalmic conditions. The studies highlight both clinical and public health approaches to improving eye care across the country.
A comprehensive collection of peer-reviewed articles from 1995 to 2018 covering eye care and ophthalmology in Malawi. Topics include blindness surveys, cataract surgery, childhood blindness, HIV/AIDS-related eye conditions, malaria retinopathy, trachoma, refractive errors, traditional healing practices, diabetic retinopathy, vitamin A deficiency, and healthcare workforce development. This dataset reflects both clinical and public health perspectives on improving eye health services in Malawi.
A comprehensive review of eye health research in Rwanda, covering blindness, cataract, vernal keratoconjunctivitis, HIV-related ocular conditions, trachoma, vitamin A deficiency, diabetic retinopathy, and national eye care system improvements.
This article analyzes the role, training, deployment, and supervision of non-physician cataract surgeons across Sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting significant variation in their use and challenges in their integration into eye care systems.
This collection features eye health research in Sudan from 1995 to 2018, focusing heavily on trachoma and related public health interventions. It also includes studies on childhood blindness, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, and ocular disease surveillance among displaced populations and refugees.