Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research is organising the 16th International Conference of the Coalition for Global Hearing Health (CGHH), marking the first time the conference has been held in India from Oct 10 for three days.
Nearly 250 delegates from 27 countries across Asia, Africa and the Americas are participating in the three-day conference, bringing together experts and stakeholders to discuss global challenges and advances in hearing healthcare. The Coalition of Global Hearing Health is an international network of clinicians, researchers, advocates and persons with hearing loss working to make hearing health a global priority with a greater focus on low-middle income countries.
The three-day international conference was inaugurated by Dr. Darez Ahamed, Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu. During the inaugural address, he said that today, more than 430 million people need rehabilitation for disabling hearing loss, and nearly 60% of childhood hearing loss is preventable. For a young adult, the risk may come from earphones. For workers in our factories and on construction sites, prolonged exposure to noise year after year can lead to hearing loss.
Under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, the Government has funded cochlear implants for young children whose families could never have afforded them otherwise. We have provided this intervention to more than 4,000 children, helping nearly 500 children every year. Our insurance scheme has also been covering hearing aids for more than a decade. Village health workers can screen children for hearing problems, while audiologists can test a baby’s hearing remotely through a village health van equipped with satellite connectivity. He invited industries and researchers present here to join us in working towards these solutions and making hearing healthcare more accessible to all.”
Dr. Shelly Chadha, Technical Lead for Ear and Hearing Care at the World Health Organization (WHO), was the Guest of Honour at the conference. She said that the Government of India has been a pioneer in establishing the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD). Its approach to integrate ear and hearing care at the primary healthcare level is particularly distinctive. The Government of Tamil Nadu has also been at the forefront of implementing the national programme and establishing innovative models of public-private partnership. Nearly 60% of ear and hearing-related problems can be addressed at the community level by trained non-specialists, leaving only 40% to require specialist care. The key is to ensure that these services actually become available at the community level, making ear and hearing care more accessible to everyone.”
Dr. James Saunders & Dr. David Molter, Board of Directors, CGHH, Ms. Samyuktha Venkataachalam, Trustee, Sri Ramachandra Educational and Health Trust, Dr. Mahesh Vakamudi, Pro Vice Chancellor, Dr. Prakash Boominathan, Principal, Sri Ramachandra Faculty of Audiology and Speech Language Pathology and Dr. Vidya Ramkumar, Organising Chairperson, 16th CGHH & Professor, Dept. of Audiology, SRIHER were participated.
