I am very happy to share some great news that I received this last weekend. This shows what a lasting impact that Hope Ministries is making in the lives of the Tanzania. This is the thank-you I received from the ENT physician that we worked with last May:
An article due to be published in the Rockcity magazine and this is all possible because of Hope ministries!!
Thank you for donation of the Audiometer and Tympanometer and many thanks to you Mama Gayle, Dr. Marni Johnson and Dr. Sara Powell, May God continue to bless you abundantly!!
This is the article and pictures featured in the magazine:
DISABLING HEARING LOSS IN CHILDREN IS ALARMING
A person who is not able to hear as well as someone with normal hearing (hearing thresholds of 25 dB or better in both ears) – is said to have hearing loss. Hearing loss may be mild, moderate, severe or profound. It can affect one ear or both ears, and leads to difficulty in hearing conversational speech or loud sounds.
Over 5% of the world’s population – 360 million people – have disabling hearing loss (328 million adults and 32 million children).
Although hearing loss in children can be both due to acquired or congenital (inborn) causes, here at Bugando Medical Centre majority of the children (2 out of 3 with hearing problems) attending our clinics have disabling hearing impairment from preventable causes. In our Centre the leading causes are
- chronic ear infections(majority presenting with pus discharge per ears)
- collection of fluid in the ear (otitis media)
- use of particular drugs, such as some antibiotic and antimalarial medicines
- injury to the head or ear
- wax or foreign bodies blocking the ear canal
- infectious diseases such as meningitis and mumps
- excessive noise exposure
Impacts of disabling hearing impairment in children
Functional Impact:
Affect their ability to communicate with others. Spoken language development is often delayed in these children. This can have a significantly adverse effect on their academic performance.
Social and emotional impact:
Limited access to services and exclusion from communication can have a significant impact on everyday life, causing feelings of loneliness, isolation and frustration. They may sometimes feel excluded from social interaction.
Economic impact:
There are very few schools that can accommodate children with hearing impairment in our setting, as a result a higher percentage of people with hearing loss are in the lower grades of employment compared with the general workforce.
Our response
Knowing that early detection and intervention are crucial to minimizing the impact of hearing loss on a child’s development and educational achievements, as a department(of Ear ,Nose and Throat Surgery at Bugando Medical Centre) we came up with a project called Hearing Health Project(HHP). The main purpose of this project is pre-school, school and occupational screening for ear diseases and hearing loss, provision of hearing health education and treat the affected accordingly. We have started with primary and secondary schools at Ilemela district in Mwanza. We also have a clinic every Friday from 8a.m to 3p.m at BMC where a team of ENT specialist, Nurses, Audiometric technicians, Speech and Language therapist and an Occupational therapist work together to help these patients.
Children with hearing loss can benefit from the use of hearing devices, such as hearing aids, cochlear implants, and other assistive devices. They may also benefit from speech therapy, aural rehabilitation and other related services.
However, global production of hearing aids meets less than 10% of global need and less than 3% of developing countries’ needs. The lack of availability of services for fitting and maintaining these devices, and the lack of batteries are also barriers in our setting. Properly fitting affordable hearing aids, cochlear implants and providing accessible follow-up, speech and language therapy services improvement in our setting are among the targets of this project.
We advise you to bring your children in our centre (BMC ENT Department) for early detection and treatment.
Dr Gustave Buname
Head, ENT Department, Bugando Medical Centre.
E-mail: gbuname7 @gmail.co
