PURPOSE: World Hearing Day is held on 3 March each year to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world. Globally over 430 million people experience disabling hearing loss, a number that could grow to nearly 700 million by 2050. When unaddressed, hearing loss poses a significant challenge for all age groups, hindering language development, communication, cognition, and limiting access to education, employment and social interactions. Raise awareness and promote equitable access to ensure ear and hearing care for all.
FORUM: “Changing mindsets: Let’s make ear and hearing care a reality for all!” World Hearing Day 2024. Globally, over 80% of ear and hearing care needs remain unmet. Unaddressed hearing loss poses an annual cost of nearly US$1 trillion globally. Deeply ingrained societal mis-perceptions and stigmatizing mindsets are key factors that limit efforts for preventing and addressing hearing loss. Changing mindsets related to ear and hearing care is crucial to improving access and mitigating the cost of unaddressed hearing loss. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that unaddressed hearing loss poses an annual cost of $980 billion each year. This is the cost incurred due to the impact of hearing loss without rehabilitation access, including productivity losses and social exclusion. On March 3rd, the World Hearing Day 2024 will focus on overcoming the challenges posed by societal mis-perceptions and stigmatizing mindsets through awareness-raising and information-sharing, targeted at the public and health care providers. Follow the conservation with the hashtags: #worldhearingday; #hearingcare. #3march.
EVENTS: On March 3rd, to mark World Hearing Day 2024; The Member States, partners and stakeholders are encouraged to organize a webinar to raise awareness in communities, in order to address mis-perceptions around ear and hearing problems and ensure accessible ear and hearing care. As part of activities promoting World Hearing Day, the World Hearing Forum (WHF), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Coalition for Global Hearing Health (CGHH) invite proposals for WHF-CGHH Small Grants for World Hearing Day 2024.Kindly register to participate to World Hearing Day 2024 events to get global visibility. The event information will be made available to a wider global audience.
EXHIBITS: Changing mindsets is essential to making ear and hearing care accessible. Through this photo exhibition and related stories, the World Health Organization and the World Hearing Forum draws attention to the positive impact of timely identification and management of ear and hearing problems in order to correct existing mis-perceptions and change damaging mindsets.
PUBLICATIONS: This planning guide provides a basic and practical framework for any person or organization interested in observing World Hearing Day to raise awareness and promote ear and hearing care (EHC) at national and community levels across the world. The guide is a resource for those working in the field of ear and hearing care. It has been prepared to provide you with the World Hearing Day branding and key messages and introduce you to the resources for the development of your campaign. Use it to get involved with World Hearing Day and encourage others to join the global campaign. By uniting our efforts, we can help make ear and hearing care a worldwide priority issue. Read the Primary ear and hearing care training manual.
PROJECTS: Overview of Global Projects in Specific regions.
STATEMENTS: “Hearing loss has often been referred to as an “invisible disability”, not just because of the lack of visible symptoms, but because it has long been stigmatized in communities and ignored by policy-makers.” Read the full Message from the WHO Director-General on World Hearing Day 2024; March 3rd.
PODCASTS: Nearly half a billion people worldwide are in need of ear and hearing care as they experience disabling hearing loss or suffer from ear diseases. Only about 17% of these needs are fulfilled as ear and hearing care services remain inaccessible to the majority of the global population, especially in low and middle-income countries. Listen to the audio-podcasts!
CAMPAIGN MATERIALS: “Changing mindsets: Let’s make ear and hearing care a reality for all!”; The World Hearing Day 2024 campaign materials will be available in multiple non-UN languages. Get the campaign materials!
WHY WE CELEBRATE THE DAY?
Evidence-based and cost-effective interventions are available to prevent hearing loss, treat common ear diseases, and access rehabilitation services. When these interventions are accessible to all, they have the power to transform the lives of their beneficiaries by improving communication access through hearing assistive technology and services, better education and more opportunities for livelihood.
We celebrate the World Hearing Day to
Advocate for integrating ear and hearing care within primary care.
Raise awareness in communities about the importance of ear and hearing care and encourage them to seek services.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED!
Inform people about the importance of ear and hearing care and encourage them to seek services.
Draw attention of decision makers in governments and civil society groups towards the WHO’s recommendations regarding integration of ear and hearing care into PHC.
Encourage governments to integrate primary ear and hearing care into training programmes for health care providers at primary level.
Call attention of primary level health care providers (health workers and physicians) towards the needs of people with hearing loss and ear disease.
Call on countries and civil society to address mis-perceptions and stigmatizing mindsets related to hearing loss, as a crucial step towards ensuring equitable access to ear and hearing care.
Counter the common mis-perceptions related to ear and hearing problems in communities and among health care providers.
Provide accurate and evidence-based information to change public perceptions of ear and hearing problems.
PARTICIPANTS:
The World Heaing Day is organized by the World Hearing Forum (WHF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Coalition for Global Hearing Health (CGHH), The WHO TEAM on Sensory Functions, Disability and Rehabilitation.
With the participation of:
Decision makers
Venue managers,
Owners of entertainment venues
General public especially young adults
If you would like to receive updates and information about the World Hearing Day, you can register by sending an email to whf@who.int.
Make a donation.
Help us to prevent deafness, promote ear and hearing care across remotes and rural communities.