World Hearing Day 3rd March

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) aim is to draw attention to the economic impact of hearing loss and to show how cost effective interventions to address hearing loss can be.

World Hearing Day is an annual advocacy event held each year on 3 March. Designated at the First International Conference on Prevention and Rehabilitation of Hearing Impairment in Beijing, China in 2007, the day aims to raise awareness and promote ear and hearing care across the world.

Unaddressed hearing loss poses a high cost for the global economy and has a significant impact on the lives of those affected. Yet, interventions to address hearing loss are available and are cost-effective. WHO estimates that unaddressed hearing loss costs $750 billion annually. The European Association of Hearing Aid Professionals (AEA) state that untreated hearing loss costs the European Union €178 billion and the European group is using World Hearing Day to promote investment in professional hearing care as a sound investment.

The WHO World Hearing Day 2017 highlights actions which can be undertaken by decision-makers to address hearing loss. Activities being promoted by WHO include, prevention, screening for early identification, rehabilitation through hearing devices, captioning and sign language education as all these strategies can mitigate hearing loss and its consequences.

WHO has organised a seminar on the theme – Action for hearing loss: make sound investment! The seminar will focus on the costs of unaddressed hearing loss and the benefits that action can bring for governments and individuals. The seminar is open for viewing through WebEx and you are invited to join WHO for the event.