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Hearing
impairment in developing countries
The World Health Organisation estimates that a staggering 50%
of hearing impairment can be prevented.
Hearing impairment can have a disastrous impact on the development
of effective speech, communication, learning and social integration.
Appropriate intervention is essential for children to have a chance
in life. Without auditory rehabilitation, hearing impaired
and deaf children in developing countries are routinely abandoned.
In developing countries, millions of hearing impaired children do
not have hearing aids or rehabilitation support. In contrast,
Australian children with hearing loss receive complete rehabilitation
support including free hearing aids.
In developing countries
there is a huge need for audiology services. In 1995 the World Health
Organisation estimated that there were at least 120 million people
in the world with a disabling hearing impairment of which 78 million
were in developing countries.
This report also showed that in the South-East Asia, 25 million
people were estimated to have a disabling hearing impairment, of
which approximately 2.5 million were children aged under 18 years.
Hearing services in developing
countries
The burden of deafness and hearing impairment is estimated
to be almost twice as large in developing countries as available
services are almost non-existent.
In most developing countries, audiology has been established as
a profession, however, clinical services often only serve small
areas, and government funding for hearing services is limited.
The lack of epidemiological research on the extent of hearing impairment
makes it difficult to develop strategies and programs on a national
level.
Audiology services understandably become a lower priority for countries
which are struggling to provide the basic requirements of health
in order to avoid life threatening consequences. The result is that
in most developing countries audiology services are inaccessible
to a large portion of the population. This gap can only be filled
by audiologists volunteering their services to these countries.
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Barriers to establishing hearing
services
Cultural views of hearing impairment and disability will affect
the importance the community and government place on treatment and
rehabilitation programs. Attitudes toward deafness and hearing impairment
are influenced by the socio-economic conditions, lack of understanding
about the nature of the disability and beliefs about the origin
of the disability.
Other contributing factors include political barriers, lack of trained
personnel, inadequate health education, insufficient research on
communication disorders in developing countries, and a lack of local
and culturally valid assessment procedures.
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