International development organisation, Transaid, has announced the scale up of its Madereva Salama Zaidi (Safer Roads) Project, focused on improving access to road safety information and basic health services for truck drivers, including a targeted eye health initiative for professional drivers and roadside communities in Kenya. As in the first phase, the second phase will be delivered in partnership with North Star Alliance and DOT Glasses.
The second phase of the Madereva Salama Zaidi Project builds on the success of an earlier six-month outreach programme at two North Star Alliance Wellness Centres, supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation, which saw a series of road safety and health factsheets developed for dissemination by outreach workers. During the project, many drivers also reported eyesight problems and irritation, caused by long hours behind the wheel. To address this, Transaid received further funding from Gibbs and Morel Trusts to conduct 4,107 eye-health screenings over a three-month period, with 971 prescribed glasses and 110 referred to a specialist clinic in central Mombasa for further evaluation.
Phase two is expected to see up to 1,000 individuals fitted with corrective lenses. These services are provided alongside routine non-communicable disease screenings at the North Star Alliance Wellness Centres near the Port of Mombasa – a major transport hub for HGV drivers. Between 2019 and 2020, Kenya’s National Transport and Safety Authority recorded a troubling 64% increase in road traffic fatalities along the Northern Corridor, underscoring the growing urgency of addressing safety concerns.
Asha Mongale, clinician at the North Star Alliance Wellness Centre, says: “I enjoy assembling the glasses and watching patients try them on for the first time. We can adjust them, so we always get the fit perfect. Many of the drivers like to walk to the front gate and look along the highway, lifting the glasses on and off their face. It might be the first time they are able to see such a long distance. They’re always smiling when they come back in.”
Jason Finch, Programmes Support Manager for Transaid, says: “Expanding the Madereva Salama Zaidi Project is a big step for improving the safety and wellbeing of the individuals that keep Kenya’s transport systems moving. Professional drivers are often working long hours in challenging conditions limiting their access to information and healthcare. Untreated vision problems exacerbate challenges linked to safety, putting both them and other road users at risk. Through phase one of the project, we were able to see how significant the need is, and how impactful this project will continue to be.”
In December 2025, Jason Finch attended the North Star Alliance’s Regional Conference on Transport Corridors and Health to present the project and discuss the need for delivery partners to be flexible and ready to respond to evolving health and safety needs as part of a panel on supporting the well-being and security of professional drivers across the East Africa region.
For more information and to find out how you can support the organisation visit www.transaid.org.
