Dear Friend,
May I personally welcome you to this website dedicated to advocating and advancing essential care for children with permanent hearing loss in the developing world.
At least 718,000 infants in the developing world are born with or acquire hearing loss in the first month of life annually. The degree of hearing loss in the majority of these children is not only disabling but is lifelong and irreversible. In majority of children also, disabling hearing loss cannot be prevented in the foreseeable future.
The consequences of hearing loss cut across every area that is crucial to optimal early childhood development particularly speech, language, cognitive and psychosocial development. As a result, affected children are at great risk of poor literacy, educational and vocational attainment. Children with hearing loss are also vulnerable to neglect and abuse and are a constant burden to families.
There is abundance of evidence to show that the first year of life is so crucial to helping these children. However, for many years, childhood hearing loss has not been considered a public health priority in developing countries due to a variety of reasons. Firstly, the public awareness or appreciation of this hidden handicap is low even among health professionals. Secondly, the governments in most developing countries are burdened by many fatal and communicable diseases and as a result constrained in taking any effective action for non-life threatening conditions. Thirdly, the culture in many communities impedes the integration of affected children into the mainstream thus leading to social and economic isolation. Fourthly and perhaps more importantly, very limited options were previously known to be available to address this silent epidemic particularly among major global health actors.
Recent advances in scientific knowledge and technology now make it possible and imperative to promote early hearing detection and intervention for optimal childhood development. In fact, the early knowledge of this hidden handicap in an apparently well child is of tremendous value to parents. Many countries, except those in the developing world, are making excellent progress in this regard.
International organisations such as the World Health Organisation, Christian Blind Mission (CBM), the Commonwealth Society for the Deaf, AG Bell, Lions Clubs, Rotary International, IFOS and a few others have made notable contributions over the years. Yet a lot more can still be achieved in spite of the many constraints in this region.
It is therefore a rare honour and privilege for HING to join these distinguished forerunners to advance the vision of early hearing detection and intervention globally. This we hope to achieve in our own little ways by drawing the attention of key as well as less visible players in global health to this important public health need. I am inspired by my personal experience of congenital hearing loss for almost five decades and I’m constantly reminded that the world’s infants with hearing loss cannot afford to wait. We must not make them wait either.
Sincerely
Bola Olusanya
2nd May 2006