Hearing loss already costs the continent $27 million a yearwith a profound impact on lives and economies, said the reportwhich was launched at the African Summit on Hearing Disorders in Nairobi, Kenya.
Widespread hearing loss disproportionately affects poor and vulnerable populations. WHO warned that without urgent interventions, this situation will continue to escalate, exacerbating existing inequalities in access to healthcare services.
Children with loss
The UN agency said Hearing loss has far-reaching consequences for children, including delays in language development, increasing the risk of poor educational outcomes and limited career prospects in the future.
Meanwhile, adults with untreated hearing loss often face isolation, loneliness and an increased risk of depression and dementia.
The report details numerous factors driving the rise in hearing loss in the WHO African Region, which covers 47 countries. Chief among these is the acute shortage of ear and hearing care (EHC) specialists and the uneven distribution of the available workforce, which is mainly located in urban areas.
Shortage of professionals
For example, more than 56 percent of African countries have only one ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT) per million people, while in Europe this is approximately 50 per million people.
Meanwhile, more than three-quarters of countries have less than one audiologist and one speech and language therapist per million people.
And Although 33 million Africans could benefit from a hearing aid, only about 10 percent have access due to a lack of EHC funding and the resulting high costs.
Newborn screening is lacking
The report notes that among children living in low- and middle-income countries, Up to 75 percent of hearing loss is due to preventable causes such as infections and common ear diseases, as well as birth complications. Yet most countries do not routinely perform newborn hearing screenings.
Even in countries with EHC programs, related interventions are not integrated into school and workplace health programs, or into healthy aging programs.
This challenge is exacerbated by a lack of national policies and plans to strengthen the implementation of EHC, and by low implementation even when these do exist. Furthermore, 35 percent of countries have no budget allocated to EHC activities, meaning patients must bear the full cost of treatment and care.
Advocacy, integration and financing
The report contains a number of recommendations. For example, countries should leverage the findings to drive action at the highest level, including advocating policies focused on EHC and related activities.
EHC also needs to be urgently integrated into existing programs to optimize the use of scarce resources, while governments should explore public-private partnerships to strengthen service delivery.
The report also highlighted the need for dedicated funding for EHC, to, among other things, equip facilities and supply products and technologies.