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The inaugural World Report on Hearing: From barriers to a platform for change
Author(s) -
McMahon Catherine M.,
Nieman Carrie L.,
Thorne Peter R.,
Emmett Susan D.,
Bhutta Mahmood F.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
clinical otolaryngology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.914
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1749-4486
pISSN - 1749-4478
DOI - 10.1111/coa.13756
Subject(s) - medicine , workforce , hearing loss , stakeholder , stigma (botany) , health care , public health , public relations , scale (ratio) , nursing , medical education , audiology , economic growth , psychiatry , physics , quantum mechanics , political science , economics
The inaugural World Report on Hearing was recently published by the World Health Organisation, and outlines the burden of hearing loss, and strategies to overcome this through preventative and public health approaches. Here, we identify barriers to wide‐scale adoption, including historic low prioritisation of hearing loss against other public health needs, a lack of a health workforce with relevant training, poor access to assistive technology, and individual and community‐level stigma and misunderstanding. Overcoming these barriers will require multi‐sector stakeholder collaboration, involving ear and hearing care professionals, patients, communities, industry and policymakers.