Hearing loss is a problem in Madagascar that has no systemic solution. Children suffering from hearing loss are condemned to lack the prospect of receiving professional medical assistance. Moreover, without hearing the sounds coming to them from the surrounding world or their own voice, they have no opportunity to develop speech. Even a small degree of hearing loss significantly affects the way a child speaks out loud.

The Department of Hearing Prosthetics of the Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences in Poznań, as part of the Hearing Prosthetist in Africa (Protetyk Słuchu w Afryce) program, offered assistance in sending a group of audiologists and hearing prosthetists to Madagascar with equipment and sets of hearing aids with a battery for at least 150 children. Four specialists will spend a month in Antananarivo, where they will examine hearing-impaired children and adjust hearing aids for them. In addition, they will provide training for local staff on how to operate the hearing aids and adjust the parameters to the needs of the hearing-impaired, so that, after completing the mission, the children will be under constant care. Polish specialists will be welcomed in the AKAMA center, the capital center for deaf and hearing-impaired children, which gives the children the opportunity to attend school where sign language is used.

The project was initiated by two Polish charitable foundations operating in Madagascar: the My Baobab Foundation (Fundacja My Baobab) and the Ankizy Gasy – Children of Madagascar Foundation (Fundacja Ankizy Gasy – Dzieci Madagaskaru). They have connected specialists from Poland with the AKAMA center. They also support the search for hearing-impaired children in remote areas of the island and help in covering the costs of travelling to the capital city of a parent with a child for the examination (the travelling cost is often unreachable for the Malagasy - 90% of the population lives on less than $2 a day).

To sum up, we have everything you need to work on site: specialists, very expensive diagnostic equipment and hearing aids. We are asking for your help in collecting funds for plane tickets for our specialists. The total price of the tickets is PLN 20,000.

Below, you can read more about the Hearing Prosthetist in Africa program.

In the years 2019-2022, the Department of Hearing Prosthetics of Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences in Poznań in cooperation with the Redemptoris Missio Foundation - doctors for the world co-organized medical missions, among others, in Bertoua in Cameroon and in Kunkujang Mariama in Gambia. The aim of the mission in Cameroon was to provide audiological diagnostics and hearing aids to students of the school for hearing-impaired children and local residents. High-end hearing aids were obtained from companies and private individuals/donors.

Cameroon 2019 (April, May)

118 patients were examined, 125 high-end digital hearing aids were adjusted for 76 school pupils. A group of 28 preschool children was initially examined to identify problems and possibilities for further proceeding at the next stage of the Project. The school's teaching staff was examined. 30 short instructional videos were made with the participation of children, parents and teachers in the field of use and operation of the hearing aids. Instructional materials were handed over to the school. All school personnel was trained in the operation, monitoring and fitting of the hearing aids.

Cameroon 2020 (February-March 2020, during the development of the COVID-19 epidemic)

206 patients were examined, most of them were very young children; 106 hearing aids were adjusted to the needs of the patients. More than 80 ABR tests and 19 ASSR tests were performed, two of which resulted in positive decisions on the use of hearing aids. Normal hearing - 19 patients, unilateral deafness - 4, deafness - 33, severe hearing loss - 4 children, youngest patient aged 12 months.