World Hearing Day (3 March) was 12 months since Cochlear joined people with hearing loss, global hearing care experts and advocates in welcoming the World Health Organization’s first-ever World Report on Hearing. The report was a global call to action for policy makers and the general public to make ear and hearing care a health priority across the life course.
The World Report on Hearing continues to provide hearing care leaders, policymakers and communities with clear guidance on how to integrate ear and hearing care into their national health plans. Recently released WHO guidance on implementation of national hearing screening programs helps address a key message of the report – that early identification of hearing loss, followed by intervention, is vital to address costs to individuals and societies. The messages in the report are as urgent as ever and Cochlear will continue to work with others towards its implementation.
Actions to raise awareness
Malala Yousafzai, the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Co-Founder of Malala Fund, wrote a personal foreword to the report in which she expressed her hopes for world leaders to work together to implement the report’s recommendations.
Following this, Malala Fund and hearing health not-for-profit Cochlear Foundation launched a partnership to raise awareness about the barriers keeping millions of children and young people with hearing loss from accessing a quality education. Cochlear also launched the Achieve Anything Program, and Malala Yousafzai inspired children and young people with hearing loss to share their personal stories of achievement.
For more information about the partnership and how you can get involved, visit
Inspiration to achieve
Doctor Mahrukh Zaidi, a 24-year-old who has cochlear implants, recently shared her story in the Achieve Anything Program. Malala Fund has now shared this inspiring story on its global newsletter to mark World Hearing Day. You can read Mahrukh’s full story, and why she believes more women with hearing loss should choose a career in medicine, here.
