General News
Hope for deaf children
A SURVEY has revealed that children make up 34 per cent of people with hearing impairments in Fiji.
The founder of Carabez Alliance, Bronwyn Carabez gave these figures at the launching ceremony at JJ's on the Park on Tuesday.
Ms Carabez said the Carabez Alliance was formed in 2004 with the aim of providing deaf children in Fiji and surrounding Pacific Islands with audiological support.
She said Fiji had the highest number of people with hearing loss in the South Pacific, with close to six per cent of the population being deaf or suffering from hearing loss.
"Untreated hearing loss is a severe problem among children in the South Pacific because of the limited access to hearing screenings and lack of education and funding around the solutions available to treat the condition," she said.
The Carabez Clinic which will provide free services to children who are deaf or have hearing impairments was officially opened by Doctor Neil Sharma.
Dr Sharma said treatment or help for hearing impairment was one area in which Fiji was lacking.
He said absence of advanced technology such as bone anchored hearing aids (BAHA) was a great disadvantage for many deaf children.
He said the Carabez Clinic would give deaf children or those with hearing impairment a chance to live a normal life.
The Carabez Clinic will be situated at the Bayly Clinic in Suva and will continue to provide free hearing aids and audiological care to deaf children from around Fiji. Cochlear Implantation is expected to become part of the clinic by 2011. The clinic is supported by the Hear the World Foundation with support from Phonak Australia.
Ms Carabez said she decided to form the Carabez Alliance because her daughter had a hearing problem and she wanted to share her experience and knowledge with the other parents and children who were going through the same situation.
She said because of lack of resources and funding many families were unable to treat their children's hearing loss or medical conditions affecting their hearing, and as a result many completely lost their sense of hearing over time.
She said children with moderate to severe hearing loss were placed in schools for the deaf because they did not have access to hearing aids that could help integrate them into a normal hearing environment.
Source of photo: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=140748
Additional Information
Country: Fiji
Website: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=140748
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Source: Mail from: D_and_d_sub mailing list
When: 25/2/2010
