On March 3 2021, the World Hearing Organization (WHO) celebrated World Hearing Day (WHD) with the theme “Hearing Care for All: Screen, Rehabilitate, Communicate.” World Hearing Day is an annual global advocacy event and the most extensive awareness campaign calling for action to address hearing loss and related issues. By celebrating this day, we bring additional awareness about hearing loss and the importance of ear and hearing care and enable communities worldwide to promote this important health issue as a national agenda item. Every year, this day addresses a specific theme. Importantly, WHD 2021 marked the launch of the first World Report on Hearing (WRH). The WRH aims to drive policy actions for integration of ear and hearing care into national health policies. Through a life course lens, three SAC members involved in hearing care in the contexts of early development, education and adult aging started a conversation about the WHD 2021 theme and what the WRH could mean for Canada, at the national, provincial and local levels. The conversation begins with the WRH recommendation for universal hearing screening across the life course and continues on to discuss the need for rehabilitation that is age-appropriate, multi-disciplinary and family-centred, as well as strategies for multi-sectoral collaboration to increase communication accessibility.
For resources and more information about World Hearing Day and the World Report on Hearing, click here.
For more information on the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program, please click here.
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