51.4 percent of people in central, South West have hearing impairments

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT |  An estimated 51.4 percent of people living in the Central and South Western Uganda have suffered from some sort of hearing impairment.

This is according to the Otolaryngology Society of Uganda.

The Otolaryngology Society is an organisation that brings together professionals that treat patients who suffer from ear, nose and throat disease.

According to findings shared by the association, children aged six months to five years of age had the highest prevalence of cases at 33 percent followed by impairments in adults at 11 percent. Children ageb six to 12 years had the least prevalence at 7.4 percent.

The findings are from studies that were carried out by members of the society in the last 10 years. The studies were done at different health facilities in Central and South West Uganda,where both out and inpatients  who presented signs of difficulty of hearing were tested for hearing loss. Also young babies born from Mbarara Hospital were given the test.

Dr Amina Seguya, a ENT expert  says the prevalence of hearing loss in the country is high compared to global standards.

According to Dr Seguya, there are three main types of hearing impairments or losses that people suffer from. The most common type of hearing loss among adults is sensorineural hearing loss, where the inner ear nerves and hair cells are damaged due to age or noise damage.

Other types of hearing loss are conductive hearing loss mixed hearing loss.  Conductive hearing loss is a result of obstructions to the outer or middle ear be wax,tumors, pus. This type of hearing loss is common among children.Mixed hearing is a combination of both sensorineural and conductive hearing loss.

Dr Christopher Ndoleriire, the President of the  Otolaryngology Society of Uganda, attributes the high number of cases of hearing loss among children to poor antenatal uptake by expectant mothers.

In addition to this, he says that when parents fail to manage HIV infections among children, this might also lead to hearing loss as the virus is capable of affecting all organs of the body inclusive of the ear. Other causes are untreated episodes of rubella/mothers in the expectant mother.

To try and detect hearing loss early so that treatments can take place, the doctors want the health ministry to provide audiologists at all regional referral hospitals. They say this will help correct mild forms of heating loss eslry and give children or adults the chance to a normal life.

The experts also recommend that government makes auditory tests complusory during routine immunization so that the impairment is discovered early.

Dr Charles Olaro, the director of curative services at the health ministry says government is working hard to ensure that that cheap drugs are procured to ease access but people prefer using cheap herbs that worse the problem.

“There are some gaps but we are trying to address these. For instance we make sure that the price of ear drops are cheap and can easily be bought but some people prefer using herbs that have not been proven to work. In the end there conditions worsen and they lose hearing,” Dr Olaro said.

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