Co-creating an arts-based eye health education strategy in Zanzibar: process, outcomes and lessons learnt

INTRODUCTION: Published examples of health programme co-creation are scarce and we found none in the field of eye care. We described the outcomes and lessons learnt from the ZANZIbar Arts for Children’s Eyesight (ZANZI-ACE) eye health programme co-creation process. METHODS: We used a 2.5-day stakeholder workshop (number of participants=34) to develop the ZANZI-ACE intervention, which aimed to use music performances in eye health education to improve child eye health service uptake in Zanzibar. A Zanzibar-wide music competition was then launched to encourage local participation, followed by a judging session to select three pieces as the ZANZI-ACE eye health programme intervention materials. RESULTS: The barriers to the improved uptake of child eye health services raised by the participants were mainly cultural and social. Sensitising parents, teachers, children and community members with proper eye health knowledge was the key to addressing these barriers. The goal of sensitisation is to improve children’s vision so that they can achieve their fullest potential. Music and song ranked highest among the proposed art forms, so three music pieces were chosen as the ZANZI-ACE eye health programme intervention materials. A detailed ZANZI-ACE implementation strategy, a theory of change and key performance outcomes indicators were developed. CONCLUSION: The co-creation process and outcomes of the ZANZI-ACE eye health programme show that engaging a diverse group of stakeholders is critical to developing locally relevant health programmes. The lessons learnt from the process will prove useful to researchers who aspire to design innovative health programmes.