A look at hearing healthcare in Kenya
Africa
The African media group Daily Nation recently looked at the situation concerning hearing healthcare in Kenya and found that services are lacking in most disciplines.
The article highlighted a broad range of areas where improvements are needed to bring adequate hearing healthcare to Kenya’s estimated 45 million people. More than 600,000 Kenyans are thought to have some degree of hearing loss that would benefit from treatment.
One of the main concerns is the lack of diagnostic and curative drugs. The Kenya Essential Medicines List 2010 has only two ear treatment antibiotic drugs in the list of 28 essential medicines, according to the report. Another issue is the severe shortage of professionals in this area: the country has only 75 ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeons and just 7 audiologists.
Health Cabinet Secretary Cleopa Mailu is quoted as saying that, just like non-communicable diseases, ENT diseases have seen a sharp increase in incidence over the years, prompting the Kenyan government to develop new strategies to tackle them. But the situation is now receiving greater attention. At the launch of the government’s new policy guidelines and protocols on the establishment and management of ear and hearing care, Dr Mailu said: “This is a landmark achievement for us as a country. It focuses national attention on a scarcely addressed problem.”
In terms of prevention, laws to reduce noise in the workplace and on public transport have largely not yet helped to reduce noise pollution, considered one of the main causes of hearing loss in the country.
Source: Daily Nation
