Abongo Ochich
Executive Director
About
Making the eye care gap visible and addressing reported needs
Uwiano Africa is a research-led eye health organisation in Kenya. We build and maintain the Vision Access Index, which shows county by county where people go without glasses and eye care, and we take that evidence to the people who plan and fund health services.
Vision
A Kenya where no one is held back by uncorrected refractive error, because quality correction is planned, funded and within reach in every county.
Mission
We strengthen the evidence on where refractive correction fails to reach people, test practical ways to deliver it, and work with health decision-makers to make it a lasting part of Kenya's health system.
Kiswahili for balance
Why Uwiano
We strive for equity in eye care. Eye services in Kenya cluster in a few urban centres, so a person's chance of getting glasses depends heavily on the county they live in. We measure that imbalance across all 47 counties so it can be planned and budgeted for.
Our team
Meet our team
Michael Atati
Operations Lead
David Kwoba
Innovations and Tech Lead
Peter Maisha
Finance & Strategy Lead
Alwenge Yimbo
Legal Officer and Comms
What we hold to
- Evidence first
- We publish the source and the method behind every figure we use.
- Equity by design
- We give the most attention to the counties and communities the health system reaches least.
- Build for permanence
- We work toward eye care that counties plan and fund themselves, so it continues after any one grant, clinic or founder.
Roadmap
Where we are now
Current stage
Building the evidence base
We are improving the Vision Access Index and checking its first findings with county health teams. Alongside that, we are running a small number of targeted field pilots and setting up Uwiano Africa's governance and partnerships.