World Hearing Day is celebrated on March 3rd every year. The theme for this year is “Changing mindsets: empower yourself to make ear and hearing care a reality for all!” There is an urgent need for mindset change in Ghana regarding ear and hearing care (EHC). Hearing loss is a medical condition that affects an individual’s capacity to perceive sound within the normal hearing threshold. Ear and hearing care includes the prevention, rehabilitation, treatment and integrating people with hearing loss into the rest of the society. It also means minimising the opportunities for hearing loss and maximising the possibility of good ear and hearing care.
Therefore, the general mindset towards ear and hearing care in Ghana needs a reset. This is exemplified, in the most problematic way, by the so-called Schools for the Deaf. The motivation that led to the founding of such schools may have been positive. Time, however, has taught societies across the globe that integration of those who need ear and hearing care into mainstream institutions, such as schools, is more effective than segregation of those individuals into supposedly specialized schools, only to face stigmatization and marginalisation.
A reset means we will value ear and hearing care for all. That is, if we truly value ear and hearing, Ghana will need to prioritize developing a policy document on EHC and, critically, the employment of audiologists and speech therapists in Ghana Health Service across all regions. It will be necessary to have ENT centers in all regions, and there needs to be enforcement of laws regarding noise pollution. If the society values ear and hearing care for all, we need to see the integration of children who are hearing impaired into the general population. This will require that there is early identification, rehabilitation and support for cochlea implantation. These are key aspects of the reset that Ghana needs.
It is not only Ghana that needs a reset regarding ear and hearing care. On a global scale, 1.5 million people are affected by hearing loss. This accounts for 5% of the global population, with 430 million affected by disabling hearing loss, the majority of whom reside in low- and middle-income countries such as Ghana. A staggering 80% of disabling hearing loss is concentrated in these regions, underscoring the magnitude of the problem. Projections suggest that by 2030, the number of individuals with disabling hearing loss requiring rehabilitation will exceed 500 million. Furthermore, it is estimated that over 1 million young people face the risk of permanent hearing loss due to unsafe hearing habits. This increases the risk of hearing loss, particularly concerning for infants in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where survival rates have led to an elevated risk of hearing impairment.
What do our national statistics say in regard to ear and hearing care? The 2021 Population and Housing census found 470,737 people with hearing loss, 385,793 people had some difficulty in hearing, 65,495people who had a lot of difficulty hearing and 19,448 people who were not able to hear at all.
We need to increase prioritization of ear and hearing care. We know that young people in Ghana face an increasing risk “of permanent hearing loss due to prolonged exposure to loud sounds during recreational pastimes such as listening to music and video gameplay. (WHO). While young people are particularly at risk, the entire society is currently affected.
In 2024, the Widows and Orphans Movement, in partnership with the Bolgatanga Ghana Health Service, organised an ear health screening. Impacted wax was the common cost of hearing loss among the widows and other health care seekers screened. Many affected people received great relief from a simple ear syringing process. One five-year-old child had congenital hearing loss, but there was no facility in the Upper East region that the child could be referred to for a hearing assessment. The nearest health care institutions which can provide care are the Komfo Anokye and Korle-Bu Teaching Hospitals. On receiving this information, the mother of the child was visibly distraught. She explained that she could not afford to travel that far distance for ear care.
So what we need to do now is clear. It is important that the following actions are implemented. We need everyone to be concerned about ear care and hearing. Parents with children who have or may have issues with hearing, please seek support from health care facilities.
Health care providers strengthen your capacity to integrate ear and hearing care at the primary health care level. Leaders within the health sector at the various levels, from national to local, must strengthen the institutional capacity of health care workers and facilities to provide ear and hearing care at the primary health care level. Policy makers, everything must be done to help integrate deaf children into the normal population through rehabilitation and a cochlea implant. Further, there must be a decrease in the enrolment of children in the school for the deaf. This is an important step in ending the stigmatisation of these children. Finally, the health sector needs a policy document for ear and hearing care.
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Dr. Eunice Rabiatu Abdulai is the Head of ENT unit Institutional Care Division, Ghana Health Service Headquarters. She is also a Fellow in otorhinolaryngology with West Africa and Ghana College of Surgeons — Health Administration Management and Public Health Training in Ear and Hearing care.
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