OUR SOLUTION

The Kenya government approved its new National Ear and Hearing Care Strategy in 2023. Among key priorities are to establish newborn hearing screening, expand financial coverage to hearing technology (hearing aids, cochlear implants), and to develop professional expertise and services to address pediatric hearing loss. These improvements will help more babies and young children with hearing loss in Kenya to successfully achieve listening and spoken language outcomes.

The Global Foundation For Children With Hearing Loss began collaborating with the University of Nairobi and indirectly with the Kenya Ministry of Health in 2024 to achieve these aims. The GFCH is teaching its proprietary training curriculum in a series of subsequent two-week workshops taught in Kenya over a 3-year period. Our curriculum is designed to raise awareness and to develop local expertise in pediatric audiology and auditory-verbal therapy for babies and children with hearing aids and cochlear implants so they can learn to listen and speak. This specialized expertise is limited in Kenya.

A cohort of Kenyan audiology and speech therapy professionals, community health workers, kindergarten teachers, and early intervention providers are engaged in our training program. Parents/caregivers and their very young children with hearing loss participate in the practicum sessions and attend evening seminars to learn how to help their children develop at home.

The GFCHL training program is unique in that we invest in the participants’ learning over a period of years. We combine theory with practicum at every workshop and provide online support to the participants between in-country training workshops.

The Kenyan participants who complete the three-year GFCHL training program will receive a certificate from the University of Nairobi and the GFCHL. They will be prepared to serve babies and young children with hearing loss and to train others in the country to make the benefits exponential and sustainable.

In addition to teaching its training curriculum, the GFCHL is working with Kenyan entities to raise awareness for pediatric hearing loss and the hearing technology options and interventions available today to address it. We aim to educate expecting parents, families, and the community at large and help to reduce stigma associated with hearing loss. 

The GFCHL has also committed to contribute its expertise in helping to establish newborn hearing screening in five counties (states) in Kenya. With proactive screening, the average age of identification of hearing loss will drop. There will likely be a corresponding, increased demand for hearing technology and audiology and therapy services to support this pediatric population. Our training curriculum will help Kenya professionals and caregivers access the tools and knowledge they will need to respond.

The end goal we share with our Kenyan partners is that pediatric ear and hearing care services will be fully integrated into the Kenya health care system and that families can access the trained professionals they need for successful outcomes in their young children.