Changing mindsets about EAR CARE
WORLD HEARING DAY
World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.
Changing mindsets about EAR CARE
WORLD HEARING DAY
World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.
About the World Hearing Day
The World Hearing Day (held annually on 3rd March), formerly known as International Ear Care Day, is a global initiative championed by the World Health Organization (WHO). This day was established in 2007 to promote global actions on hearing care and minimizing occurrence of hearing impairment. Operation Ear Drop Kenya (OED-K) has commemorated this global event since 2014 in Nairobi. OED-K champions this initiative in collaboration with Kenyatta National Hospital and University of Nairobi. This has been in an effort to raise awareness on hearing and ear health care in Kenya. OED-K has marked this day in Nairobi under the following themes:
1. The theme for 2014 was “Ear Care Can Avoid Hearing Loss”
2. The theme for 2015 was “Make Listening Safe: Once You Lose Your Hearing, It Wont Come Back! Keep the Volume Down!
3. The theme for 2016 was ‘Childhood Hearing Loss: Act Now, Here is How’.
4. The theme for 2017 was “Action for Hearing Loss: Make A Sound Investment”
5. The theme for 2018 was “Hear the Future”
6. The theme for 2019 was “Check your hearing”
7. The theme for 2020 was “Hearing for life: don’t let hearing loss limit you”
8. The theme for 2021 was “Hearing care for ALL! Screen. Rehabilitate. Communicate”
9. The theme for 2022 was “To hear for life, listen with care!”
10. The theme for 2023 was “Ear and hearing care for all! Let’s make it a reality”.
11. The theme for 2024 is “Changing mindsets: Let’s make ear and hearing care a reality for all!
The World Hearing Day 2022 with the theme “To hear for life, listen with care” will focus on the importance and means of hearing loss prevention through safe listening, with the following key messages:
• It is possible to have good hearing across the life course through ear and hearing care
• Many common causes of hearing loss can be prevented, including hearing loss caused by exposure to loud sounds
• ‘Safe listening’ can mitigate the risk of hearing loss associated with recreational sound exposure
• WHO calls upon governments, industry partners and civil society to raise awareness for and implement evidence-based standards that promote safe listening
The World Hearing Day 2024 with the theme “Changing mindsets: Let’s make ear and hearing care a reality for all! will focus on overcoming the challenges posed by societal misperceptions and stigmatizing mindsets through awareness-raising and information-sharing, targeted at the public and health care providers.
Key messages
Globally, over 80% of ear and hearing care needs remain unmet.
Unaddressed hearing loss poses an annual cost of nearly US$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.
World Hearing Day 2024 will be observed with the following objectives:
• 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.
