World Hearing Day: Earcare, Obasanjo Foundations Donate 2000 Digital Oticon, Others To Impaired Persons
THE Earcare Foundation, in partnership with the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation, celebrated this year’s World Hearing Day by providing full hearing assessments, 2,000 free digital oticon, synergy hearing aids, 1,000 packs of batteries, 1,000 slim tubes and domes to hearing impaired persons in Abeokuta, Ogun State.
In accordance with this year’s theme: Changing Mindsets- Let’s make ear and hearing care a reality for all!, the programme also featured otoscopy, wax removal, provision of medication where needed, hearing assessment, fitting of hearing aids/ earmoulds/ slim tubes plus domes, provision of batteries and rehabilitation of all patients.
This partnership provided the platform to reach out to the Nigerian audience, including policymakers in order to compaign against stigmatisation and change the misperceptions through advocacy, awareness- raising, and information- sharing. Also, it was an opportunity to work with other organisations, such as the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, especially with a team of Ear and Throat ( ENT) consultants, audiologists, speech
therapists and nurses. Meanwhile, there were volunteers from Hearmax Centre, who contributed to the success of the programme.
In addition, the platform provided by the Oluseun Obasanjo Foundation gave 100 earmoulds, 200 earmoulds to infants and children, which were donated by Hear Rehab Centre, Abeokuta.
Other Nigerians from Adamawa, Enugu, Kwara, Taraba, Imo, Lagos, Osun, and Oyo were also attended to. These collaborations helped drive the message on the importance of creating awareness, advocacy, educating Nigerians on ear and hearing health as well as drive World Health Organisation’s theme
for this year’s World Hearing Day.
Hearing loss has often been referred to as an “invisible disability”, not just because of the lack of visible symptoms, but because it has long been stigmatised in communities and ignored by policymakers.
Globally more than 1.5 billion people experience some degree of hearing loss. Of these, an estimated 430 million have disabling hearing loss. In Nigeria over 20.2 million reported cases of people living with disabling hearing loss according to World Health Organisation and World Bank statistics from 2019, due to preventable common causes such as ototoxic medicines.