Earcare Foundation was accepted in July 2019 as a member of the new World Hearing Forum, is a global advocacy alliance of all stakeholders in the field of hearing established by the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote ear and hearing care worldwide.
The Forum will be facilitating the implementation of WHO resolution WHA70.13 on “Prevention of deafness and hearing loss” and supporting member states. This resolution calls upon Member States to integrate strategies for ear and hearing care within the framework of their primary health care systems, under the umbrella of universal health coverage. It also requests WHO to undertake a number of actions for promotion of ear and hearing care at global level.
According to WHO, approximately 466 million people globally live with disabling hearing loss, 34 million off whom are children. 1.1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss due to exposure to noise in recreational settings – this number is expected to grow significantly unless action is taken to prevent and manage hearing loss.
We thank WHO for accepting EARCARE FOUNDATION as a Forum member and, as such, we look forward to being active and collaborative.
The World Hearing Forum first opening Membership Assembly will be held on the 4th and 5th December 2019 in Geneva, Switzerland at the WHO Headquarters.
