Significant increase in the number of hearing impaired patients expected
Last reviewed: 04.09.2021
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According to the forecasts of the World Health Organization, in 30 years, 24% of the world's population will suffer from various hearing impairments . If the situation does not change, then hundreds of millions of people will soon require serious treatment and rehabilitation measures.
Hearing loss deprives a person of many joys and opportunities in life: there are problems with work, study, communication. With complete deafness, the psychological health of a person also suffers, and depression develops. To date, WHO proposes to urgently identify the main preventive measures to prevent such violations and include them in a number of national health plans.
At present, there is insufficient investment in the prevention of hearing diseases in the world, and there is no funding for projects dealing with the care of patients suffering from hearing impairment or loss. In many, even developed countries, there are not enough otolaryngological specialists.
In every second country with a low income level per million population, there may be only one ENT doctor, and only one teacher for hearing impaired children, which is extremely unacceptable.
In every second child with hearing impairment, it was possible to prevent the problem with the help of vaccination against meningitis and epidemic rubella , as well as adherence to prenatal and neonatal preventive recommendations, ensuring timely therapy and medical examination of patients with inflammatory ear pathologies.
It is important to explain to people that in order to preserve their hearing function, they need to keep the noise level under control, adhere to the basic rules of ear hygiene, and be careful when taking medications that have a negative toxic effect on hearing.
Specialists focus public attention on the fact that the first step to minimizing the risk of developing hearing problems should be early diagnosis and high-quality and systematic clinical examination. At the moment, medicine has different methods for detecting such diseases at the early stages of development, while it is quite possible to organize testing activities in remote regions and in underdeveloped countries.
Most of the ear pathologies are successfully cured, so in many cases, with timely therapy, hearing problems can be avoided. For patients who have lost their hearing, high-quality hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other high-tech devices should be provided to help optimize the quality of life of patients. In addition, it is necessary to pay due attention and practice techniques that could provide more free communication of patients: we are talking about sign language, the use of subtitles and sign language interpretation.
Ministries of health in each state should show concern for the population so that everyone has access to such opportunities.
Source of information: official website of the World Health Organization (WHO)