The Kenya Eye Health Journal: A novel tool for enhancing interprofessional collaboration in eye health

Abstract

Publication of  the  Kenya Eye  Health Journal (KEHJ) resonates well with the theme of the 2025 Ophthalmological Society of Kenya (OSK) congress which reads: “Bridging the gap: Innovation, Access, and Equity in eye health”. Moreover, the first sub-theme is “interprofessional collaboration” (IPC) and the tagline of the Congress is “Local is good, can be better”. The World Health Organization defines IPC as the collaborative practice which happens when multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together with patients, families, carers, and communities to deliver the highest quality of care.(1) Any individual whose skills can help achieve local health goals should be engaged. Likewise in Kenya, eye health services have been evolving since 1956 and the development of a strong eye health workforce is a top priority.(2, 3) The workforce comprise of medical and non-medical professionals who play different but complementary roles in clinical care, public health, management, training, and research. These roles cannot be optimally performed without effective IPC strategies and the creation of KEHJ is one such strategy.