Bulletin of the World Health Organization
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Bull. World Health Organ. · May 2014
The global burden of disabling hearing impairment: a call to action.
At any age, disabling hearing impairment has a profound impact on interpersonal communication, psychosocial well-being, quality of life and economic independence. According to the World Health Organization's estimates, the number of people with such impairment increased from 42 million in 1985 to about 360 million in 2011. This last figure includes 7.5 million children less than 5 years of age. ⋯ The opportunity offered by the emerging global and high-level interest in promoting disability-inclusive post-2015 development goals and disability-free child survival is also discussed. Since the costs of rehabilitative services are so high as to be prohibitive in low- and middle-income countries, the critical role of primary prevention is emphasized. If the goals outlined in the World Health Assembly's 1995 resolution on the prevention of hearing impairment are to be reached by Member States, several effective country-level initiatives - including the development of public-private partnerships, strong leadership and measurable time-bound targets - will have to be implemented without further delay.
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This month the World Health Assembly discusses the post-2015 global tuberculosis strategy and accompanying set of targets. Giovanni Battista Migliori tells Fiona Fleck how his institute - one of WHO's thousands of partners across the globe - can contribute in future to its implementation, once it is approved.