Background. Mission trips have been conducted by many health workers and missionaries in developing countries. These trips have benefitted many communities; however, these benefits might have been short lived and not sustainable. Once the mission team leaves, the communities are left unattended with little or no support. This mission-research project strives to develop an operation model to address this anomaly.

Method. Our model follows a three-part strategy; - initial assessment visit, an in-depth research investigation trip combined with health care services and a follow up visit to address health problems identified. A grass root approach was initially used through participatory research that assessed health needs in Kihurio village in December 2017. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were used for gathering data. In the second and third visits, 2021 and 2022, we focused on investigating the actual prevalence of lifestyle conditions identified in the first visit, mainly hypertension and diabetes. We additionally provided health care to 957 patients who came with optical, cataract, knee, back pain, and several other conditions. Physical therapy interventions and seminars were also done during the first and third visits.

Results and Conclusion. This problem-oriented approach, using local health workers assured sustainability of the project. We recommend this research-mission approach for mission visits to developing countries because it addresses the felt needs of the community. Since evangelism was an integral part of the program, it provided the best opportunity to witness for Christ. We are planning a follow up research to evaluate the cataract problem.