World Hearing Day is annually observed across the globe on 3rd March to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and to promote hearing care across the globe.
The World Health Organisation(WHO) organises the annual events of the world hearing day at the WHO headquarters at Geneva, Switzerland.
The theme of the world Hearing day is also decided by the WHO.
The World Hearing Day 2021 on 3rd march 2021 is celebrated under the theme “Hearing care for ALL! Screen. Rehabilitate. Communicate”.
Aim:
- Promote public health actions for ear and hearing care.
- Stimulate intersectoral partnership for ear and hearing care.
- Raise awareness on hearing loss and care at a national and community levels across the world.
- Encourage behavior change towards healthy EHC practices.
Importance of World Hearing Day:
i.Unaddressed hearing loss is the leading cause of morbidity and poses an annual cost of USD 750 billion globally.
ii.Around 466 million people live with disabling hearing loss, the majority of them reside in low and middle income countries and lack access to the required services and interventions.
Hearing loss and Deafness:
i.A person with normal hearing (hearing thresholds of 20 dB or better in both ears or a person who is not able to hear is said to have hearing loss.
ii.Hearing loss ranges from mild, moderate, severe, or profound that can affect one ear or both the ears.
ii.‘Hard of hearing’ refers to a person with hearing loss ranging from mild to severe.
iii.‘Deaf’ refers to the person who has profound hearing loss, they use sign language to communicate.
Efforts of WHO:
i.WHO has been working on the ear and hearing care to promote Integrated People-Centred Ear and Hearing Care (IPC-EHHC).
ii.The efforts of WHO are guided by the recommendations of WHO World report on hearing (2021) and the World Health Assembly(WHA) resolution on prevention of deafness and hearing loss.
iii.WHO advocates ear and hearing care through the World Hearing Forum, a global network of stakeholders promoting ear and hearing care that supports the WHA resolution.
iv.The Make Listening Safe initiative of WHO promotes the safe listening to reduce the risks of recreational noise induced hearing loss.
v.WHO released the first World Report on Hearing stating that nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide or 1 in 4 people will suffer from hearing problems by 2050.(https://www.who.int)
