360m live with hearing loss disability globally – WHO
NAN-H-42
Hearing
By Chinenye Offor
Abuja, March 3, 2017 (NAN) Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, says about 360 million people of the world’s population live with disabling hearing loss, mostly in low and middle-income countries.
Moeti disclosed this in a statement to commemorate the “World Hearing Day’’ on Friday, which was made available to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
The theme of this year’s event is : “Action for hearing loss: make a sound investment”.
According to the director, unaddressed hearing loss costs the global economy 750 billion dollars annually.
“Hearing loss costs the world about 750 billion dollars annually, which is equal to the annual combined health expenditure of Brazil and China, or the gross domestic product of the Netherlands.
“In the African Region, around 4.5% of the entire population lives with this invisible disability which too often goes unnoticed.
“It has multiple causes including birth complications, ear infections, exposure to excessive noise and ageing.’’
According to Moetti, the inaction comes at a high cost, even costlier than the hearing devices.
She also noted that in Africa alone, more than 20 billion dollars was being lost annually to unaddressed hearing loss, with two billion accounting for lack of productivity, unemployment and premature retirement.
She explained that hearing loss had a significant societal cost because of social isolation, communication difficulties and stigma, estimated at more than 13 billion dollars each year at the regional level.
“In children, hearing loss can influence speech and language acquisition, significantly affect academic performance, and lead to exclusion.
“Furthermore, the global production of hearing aids is grossly inadequate; and in low and middle-income countries, fewer than one in 40 people who need a hearing aid can afford one.
“These countries also have fewer human resources for ear and hearing care, such as Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) specialists, audiologists, and teachers for deaf children who are concentrated in high- and upper-middle-income countries.
“The good news is that action to address hearing loss is cost-effective; and early detection and intervention is key; because half of all hearing loss can be avoided through prevention,’’ she added.
The WHO official advised individuals to protect their ears from loud noise in the workplace by wearing protective devices such as noise-cancelling headphones to reduce their exposure to recreational noise through volume control, or the use of ear plugs.
She also recommended primary health care interventions, noting that simple strategies such as immunising children against childhood diseases such as measles, meningitis, rubella and mumps.
Moetti added that immunising adolescent girls and women of reproductive age against rubella would greatly reduce the risk of congenital hearing loss among babies.
She also said that identifying hearing loss early through screening of newborns, school children and adults above 50 years; as well as identifying and treating ear infections quickly were further low-cost actions.
“Increasing the availability of sign language interpreters, and developing human rights legislation which makes information accessible to hearing impairment individuals will promote their inclusion in the society.
“As we commemorate World Hearing Day, I call on all countries and partners to allocate suitable resources to address hearing loss and integrate ear and hearing care into health systems to enhance prevention and early detection.
“We need to build human resource capacity to make these services more equitable in the African region and increase awareness throughout society to ensure that no one is excluded,’’ Moetti advised. (NAN)
CSO/DOR/MST
Edited by Nyisom Dore/Muhammad Suleiman Tola