The theme for the upcoming World Hearing Day 2019 is “Check Your Hearing”. On the 3rd March the WHO (World Health Organisation) will draw attention to the importance of early identification and intervention for hearing loss. Many people live with unidentified hearing loss, often failing to realise that they are missing out on certain sounds and words.
Checking one’s hearing would be the first step towards addressing the issue. The key messages include:
- All people should check their hearing from time to time, especially those who are at a higher risk of hearing loss such as adults above 50 years, those working in noisy places, those listening to music at high volumes for long periods of time and those experiencing ear problems.
- Services for early identification and intervention should be made available through the health system.
On 3 March 2019, WHO will launch a free app that allows people to check their hearing. The hearWHO app will be used to:
- Raise awareness about the importance of hearing
- Encourage people to check their hearing regularly and practice safe listening
- Allow health workers to check the hearing status of people in their communities
The WHO have developed a comprehensive toolkit containing resources and guidance which can help anyone to organize an event and promote World Hearing Day in many languages to suit many countries.
They would like to inspire the following interested parties and potential partners:
- Teachers
- Nurses
- Doctors
- Disability Group
- Aged care facility
- Universities
- Local leaders
- Residents associations
- Local NGOs/welfare groups
Also local media can help to reach a broader target audience.
More info about the toolkit, hearWHO app and other resources on the WHO campaign page here.
More info about World Heading Day previous campaigns here and a previous AB post here.
If you need any further support or information, please contact the WHO at:
Empowering all of us to become noise activists:
