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GENEVA, March 3 (Xinhua) -- On the occasion of World Hearing Day that falls on March 3, the World Health Organization (WHO) is drawing attention to unaddressed hearing loss that poses an annual cost of 750 billion U.S. dollars globally.
This year the theme of World Hearing Day is "Action for hearing loss: make a sound investment".
WHO said 360 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss, of whom 32 million are children. Factors contributing to hearing loss include genetic causes, complications at birth, and certain infectious diseases, etc.
WHO's new report focuses on cost-effective solutions for lowering the prevalence and mitigating the impact of hearing loss, including early identification and intervention programs and provision of appropriate hearing devise.
"Unaddressed hearing loss poses a great challenge not only for those who are affected by it, but also for their families, communities and countries," said Etienne Krug, Director of the WHO Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention.
