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By Tayo Faloye
22 June, 2017
The Olusegun Obasanjo foundation in conjunction wit
h Starkey foundation, yesterday began registration of candidates for distribution of hearing aids in Lagos State as part of its commitment to reducing the scourge of hearing impairment in Nigeria.
Starkey Hearing Foundation, a United States based nongovernmental organisation, is establish a commun
ity-based hearing healthcare programme in Nigeria to increase access to ear and hearing care among Nigerians.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Dr. Olalekan Makinde, said that the foundation has procured N2 billion hearing aids to be distributed across different geo-political zones of the country.
Makinde said the initiative is aimed to reduce the burden of hearing impairment in the country which was estimated to be affecting 20 million people majority of who are vulnerable group in the society.
He explained that over 5,000 people are expected to benefit from the exercises while there are plans to extend the scope in subsequent years.
“We kick started the exercise in Abeokuta and now we are in Lagos, the idea is to ensure that all the geo political zone of the country benefited. This is the maiden edition of the initiative and we are committed to continue with it. We also have in place rehabilitation and follow-up programme.’’
Also, available at the venue of the hearing healthcare initiative yesterday was Mr. Afolabi, CEO BSA Hearing and speech centre, Lagos and a major partner of Starkey Hearing Foundation in Nigeria.
Starkey Hearing foundation is providing the technical
expertise to support the three prongs of the Academic Health Centre model (service delivery, training and capacity building, research and policy advocacy) and providing all the hearing devices, its accessories
and required maintenance services to ensure sustainability.
While the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation would be
responsible for the coordination of the logistics of the programme in Nigeria through partnerships with the Federal Ministry of Health, state governments and local
stakeholders.
Hearing loss, also known as hearing impairment, is a partial or total inability to hear. A deaf person has little to no hearing, while hearing loss may occur in one or both ears. In children hearing problems can affect the ability to learn language and in adults it can cause work, social and emotional related difficulties.
Over 250 million people suffer various degrees of hearing loss globally with 75% living in sub-saharan Africa out of which about 2.8% resides in Nigeria. This translate to approximately seven million Nigerians, that’s 2.8% of 160 million of total population suffer from one hearing disorder or another
