“I was a craftsman. I lived off my skills. When I lost my sight, I didn’t just lose my business; I lost my identity.”
— David Mwangi Muthee
At first glance, David Mwangi Muthee and Susan Nyaguthii Muthee, by the nature of the distance from the health facility, don’t seem like people facing barriers to healthcare. They live in Kiamariga Village, Nyeri County, not in a remote area, and a health facility is just a short distance away. Yet, within the walls of their home, the silent weight of multi-drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) tells a different story. The disease has not only ravaged their bodies but also stolen their sight, leaving them trapped in darkness, isolated, unseen, and cut off from the care they desperately need.
David Mwangi Muthee
21 years ago, what would turn out to be David’s worst nightmare started with a benign pain in his right thumb. He didn’t think much about it and thought it would go away on its own. The pain persisted and progressed to limited movement of his right hand. The then tailor sought to seek medical assistance from Karatina Hospital, where it was discovered that he had advanced TB of the bones and was admitted for 2 months.
“I was discharged and placed on medication that I was to religiously adhere to for 6 months. I followed the doctor’s instructions to the letter, but my situation didn’t improve.” David recalls.
Upon completion of the 6 months of drugs, David went back to the hospital as he was now weaker, had lost weight and the night sweats had become more intense. It is then that the doctor discovered that David’s condition had progressed to drug-resistant TB, hence it could not respond to the usual TB medication. He was placed on DRTB medication with support from Amref, but that came with its fair share of side effects.
“With the new drugs, I started having vision problems. My eyes began becoming blurry and I would hit things when walking. Upon inquiry with my doctor, I was informed that it was an expected side effect because of the new drug and that my vision would go back to normal upon completion of the dosage. Things were never the same again. My sight deteriorated to blindness and I had to quit my dress-making business in Karatina Town and become dependent on my caregivers,“ David recalls longingly.
As David’s vision turned dark, so did his life and the world around him. His now late wife left him when things got rocky and took with her their only son. He also contracted meningitis and was taken to Ngorano Health Centre.
Susan Nyaguthii Muthee
For about 15 years, Susan Nyaguthii and her sister Rachel Wanjiru picked up the role of caregiver for their brother David. Susan had a vegetable business and Rachel worked at a fisheries company. With the income from her business, Susan was able to pay for the education of her son, Derrick Murage and provide for her brother.
Until 2021, Susan stopped heeding the popular folk wisdom that lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice when the abdominal pain she was experiencing was diagnosed as gastrointestinal TB. She was placed on medication, which she adhered to.
At the time of her diagnosis, her son was in Grade 6, preparing for his KNEC exams at the end of Grade 6 to determine his readiness for Lower Secondary. This would, however, remain a dream as Susan’s condition quickly progressed and she began having vision problems in May 2022.
Desperate to regain her sight, she underwent surgery at City Eye Hospital in Nyeri. When the first procedure failed, she sought another at Royal Hospital in Parklands, Nairobi, in 2023. But again, the outcome was disheartening. Her condition had cost her livelihood, and now, her son had to drop out of school to take on menial jobs to support her and his uncle.
Their experience reflects a broader national challenge. Kenya is among the 30 countries with the highest burden of tuberculosis, recording over 133,000 TB cases annually. In 2022 alone, more than 1,700 cases of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) were reported, with a treatment success rate of 68%. For many, the path to recovery is not only prolonged but also isolating and physically devastating.
A Partnership for Improved Health Outcomes
For over 35 years, GSK and Amref Health Africa have partnered to help strengthen health systems across Africa.
In February 2025, Amref Health Africa in Kenya hosted a group of GSK employees in Nyeri County to showcase its ongoing health programs in the county. Having just completed a challenging trek up Mount Kenya to support Amref Health Africa, this visit was to show the GSK trekkers Nyeri County’s long-standing partnership with Amref Health Africa – how they are implementing different programs including TB prevention and treatment, Covid-19 vaccination, and strengthening community health services, child asthma and NCDs prevention and management.
During the visit, the GSK Trekkers delegation visited different households in three sub-counties to witness the impact of Amref’s programs at the household level. One of these households was the Muthee’s household, where David and Susan shared their stories, expressing the challenges faced by blind people in their community, such as inadequate food and non-food items and using makeshift sticks instead of proper walking canes. Despite the county’s established health system, the visit to the Muthee household revealed how people can still fall through the cracks. Amref has trained 2,510 Community Health Promoters (CHPs) across Nyeri and helped establish 8 Primary Health Care Networks (PCNs), part of the 74 PCNs set up by Amref across Kenya in partnership with the Ministry of Health.
Their story highlights how the partnership between Amref, GSK, and the Nyeri County Department of Health is sensitive to the needs of the community – the programme now helps provide ophthalmology and multi-disciplinary team care to those who need them as part of Amref-supported Primary Health Care Networks.
David noted, “I am out of words for today’s walking canes handover visit. I have a proper cane that I will be using instead of a stick.”
At the heart of it all is Zainabu Shichenga, the CHP assigned to Muthee’s household. Dedication and resilience defineZainabu’s commitment. Every morning after the TB diagnosis, she ensured David took his TB medication without fail. When GSK visited, she coordinated their linkage with the county’s Community Health services, ensuring they receive specialized eye care at Nyeri Referral Hospital and KNH Annex- Othaya. Her efforts underscore the importance of CHPs in bridging healthcare gaps at the community level. CHPs indeed reach the unreached, even though they are masked by proximity to health services. Thanks to her persistence, David and Susan received life-changing support.
As Susan reflects on her journey, her greatest wish remains unfulfilled: she dreams of seeing her son return to school to complete his education. “CHPs like Zainabu are why people like us are still alive,” Susan says. “She didn’t just bring us medicine; she brought us back to the world.”
Kenya has over 106,000 trained CHPs, the backbone of the country’s primary healthcare system. Though their vision is lost, David and Susan move with greater confidence and dignity. Susan’s greatest wish remains: her son will return to school and live the future she will never see.
David and Susan’s story is more than a tale of resilience; it is a powerful demonstration of how Amref Health Africa is transforming the health of communities through Primary Health Care (PHC).
The GSK Trek for Health project.
GSK Trek for Health is an employee fundraising initiative from GSK and ViiV supporting Save the Children and Amref Health Africa, their health partners. The field visit was organized after the GSK team summited Mt. Kenya and visited sites within Nyeri County to showcase Amref’s support for healthcare in Nyeri. Over 40 staff from GSK from 19 countries participated in the trek.
Author: Nyambura Gitonga, Communications Ass. Family & Reproductive Health Programme, Amref Health Africa in Kenya