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Tina Musonza Herald Correspondent
Local ear, nose and throat (ENT) and hearing specialists have lobbied Government to make it mandatory for children to be screened for hearing impairment before admission into schools.
This follows Zimbabwe’s successful hosting of the second edition of the World Course on Ear and Hearing conference which attracted audiologists, ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists and otolaryngologists from Canada, Madagascar, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda among others.
Speaking during the event in Harare, Wizear Trust Zimbabwe programmes director Mrs Lucia Nkomo said there was need for early screening on children as research done shows that hearing loss was a challenge on them.
“We are conducting the second course on hearing in Zimbabwe. We are hosting foreigners as part of the health tourism that we are supporting,” said Mrs Nkomo.
She said there is a need to create a legal framework to help reduce challenges of ear and hearing loss in school.
“We are looking forward to Government coming up with a policy that mandates every child who is going into early childhood development school (ECD) to be screened for hearing first. We want children to benefit from basic primary level education,” she said.
Research done by Wizear Trust in Zimbabwe shows that 80 percent of poor education results revolve around hearing loss.
“We want Government to consider that sign language be taught in all schools. Apart from interacting at school, sign language will facilitate communication with deaf people in the community.”
Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals ENT surgeon Dr Memory Bare said challenges that contribute to hearing loss include use of electronic gadgets like ear phones and high loud music at events.
She said late detection of hearing loss remained the major challenge.
“We encourage parents to be alert to their children’s hearing capacity. Seek help at available facilities such as Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, Harare Central Hospital (now Sally Mugabe Central Hospital) and other private sector hospitals.
“If you fail to get your child screened at birth, make sure that by the age of three months, they get screened,” said Dr Bare.
ENT specialist Dr Masiye Mlambo applauded the country’s efforts in curbing hearing loss challenges through robust training of health care specialists.
“Zimbabwe is one of the leading countries advocating for hear and care services in Africa. Our training programmes for audiologists in this country is robust.
“We have managed to train audiologists who work in Government and private hospitals,” said Dr Mlambo.
Online Reporter