Worldwide, more than 360 million people suffer from hearing impairments and deafness. About half of them are over 65, while 32 million are children.
This figure is remembered by the WHO itself today, March 3, on the International Day of the Ear and Hearing.
Tools to prevent hearing loss or to restore sense (such as hearing aids) exist. Find out why, despite this, millions of people around the world are still struggling with this debilitating ailment.
World hearing day: prostheses, a useful tool against deafness
According to the World Health Organization, hearing aids such as hearing aidsare very useful against deafness, yet they manage to cover only 10% of the world‘s needs.
In developing countries, as you can imagine, very few people can come into possession of this aid: less than one person in 40.
In the case of children, for example, hearing loss usually comes after a strong infection of the ear, which could be treated with simple antibiotics. Unfortunately, in developing and low-income countries, this seems like a mirage; this is why, as the infection gets worse, it leads to deafness.
In fact, the highest prevalence of hearing disabilities is found in South Asia and the Pacific, and in sub-Saharan Africa.
World hearing day: prevent infection, to prevent deafness
Do you think infectious diseases like rubella, meningitis, measles and mumps, which are easily treated in our countries and for which there are vaccines, can cause hearing loss in developing countries.
Other causes of hearing loss are:
- exposure to excessive noise;
- head and ear injuries;
- genetic and hereditary causes;
- problems during childbirth or pregnancy;
- drug side effects.
According to the WHO, half of these cases of deafness could easily be treated with early diagnosis and suitable intervention.
This is why it is necessary that, at an international level, everything is done to carry forward, in developing countries, deafness prevention programs.
The first step is to make available theand vaccinations against measles, meningitis, mumps, and rubella.
The second step is to make syphilis treatments available to pregnant women and to evaluate children’s hearing early.
It is precisely for this reason that International Hearing Day is celebrated.