UN health agency urges private sector to provide affordable hearing aids to poor nations

Seeking to alleviate the plight of millions of people in the developing world who suffer from hearing loss, the World Health Organization (WHO) today released guidelines on hearing aid donations at a meeting in Geneva which brought together representatives of industry and governments.

Hearing aid manufacturers, service providers and donor States are all taking part in the two-day event, which aims to evaluate the possibility of private-public partnerships to provide affordable hearing aids in developing countries.

According to the UN agency, appropriate hearing aids can cost up to $500 in developing States. "These prices are prohibitive for the majority of people living in these countries," said Dr. Derek Yach, WHO Executive Director for Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health. "What we would like to do for these people is see the price there come down to $10-20 per hearing aid."

Two-thirds of the world's estimated 250 million people who suffer from hearing loss live in developing countries, yet those States have fewer than one out of every 40 hearing aids that they need, WHO said.

"In addition to the shortages and high prices, there is a huge lack of services in developing countries to fit hearing aids and ear moulds correctly and very few trained personnel," Dr. Yach noted. The WHO guidelines provide detailed requirements for the manufacture of affordable and appropriate hearing aids, the provision of services, and the training of personnel in developing countries.