CAA Celebrates World Hearing Day
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes March 3rd as World Hearing Day with the purpose of raising awareness on how to prevent hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. In acknowledgment of World Hearing Day 2024: Changing Mindsets, CAA would like to share the WHO's key messages about this day and some objectives they are striving to meet.- Globally, over 80% of ear and hearing care needs remain unmet.
- Unaddressed hearing loss poses an annual cost of nearly $1 trillion globally.
- Deeply ingrained societal misperceptions and stigmatizing mindsets are key factors that limit efforts for preventing and addressing hearing loss.
- Changing mindsets related to ear and hearing care is crucial to improving access and mitigating the cost of unaddressed hearing loss.
Changing mindsets is crucial for improving access and reducing the costs of unaddressed hearing loss globally. Together we can make ear and hearing care a reality for everyone! We can all help make this goal a reality by actively participating in the WHO objectives for reaching this goal:
- Counter the common misperceptions related to ear and hearing problems in communities and among health care providers.
- Provide accurate and evidence-based information to change public perceptions of ear and hearing problems.
- Call on countries and civil society to address misperceptions and stigmatizing mindsets related to hearing loss, as a crucial step towards ensuring equitable access to ear and hearing care.
Source: World Hearing Day website. World Health Organization, 2024, https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-hearing-day. Accessed 27 February 2024.