EUROTRAK SURVEYS:LOW AWARENESS OF CI IN FRANCE, GERMANY AND UK

Have a look at the reports on UK, Germany and France, and see how little awareness there is even there of cochlear implantation. 

69% of the population in Germany have never heard of Cochlear Implants.

Only 18% of the HA owners with severe/profound HL have been informed about CIs by a medical professional.

In the UK, 41% of the population haven’t heard of CI

Only 30% of HA owners with severe/profound HL have been informed about CI by medical professional. 

EuroTrak is the largest comparative multi-country study on hearing loss and hearing aid usage.

Initiated by EHIMA in 2009, EuroTrak was designed as a means for raising public awareness on key issues of hearing loss and hearing care. It sheds light on hearing loss prevalence as well as on the use of hearing aids and the experience of hard of hearing people with their hearing instruments.

Recent surveys include useful questions on CI awareness, illustrating how little is known about CI even in high income countries.

Go to https://www.ehima.com/surveys/

EUROCIU: XIII SYMPOSIUM WITH OPCI, ONICI

Meeting again after COVID, EUROCIU, OPCI AND ONICI brought together over 200 people in Rotterdam – for an amazing and inspiring conference. A third of the speakers were CI users or parents of child with CI. Accessibility was key with captioning in English, Dutch, German and Spanish; sign language interpretation provided.

Teresa Amat, President of EUROCIU and on the Board of CIICA, welcomed everyone and highlighted the collaboration of EUROCIU and CIICA. Harald Seidler, Vice Chair of CIICA, Teresa and Leo De Raeve, Chair of CIICA and Director of ONICI, and OPCI organisers, Hennie Epping, Peter Helmout and Henk van Rees welcomed us all to this exciting event!

Brian Lamb, Policy Advisor of CIICA, challenged delegates to “stop talking about CI’s as a costly intervention”. Reflecting on the challenge that while globally there are now over one million people with an implant the number should be nearer 20 million if all who could benefit had access. He argued that we should focus on the lost opportunity for the health and social care systems to save money if they do not implant those who could benefit.  One of the significant impediments to this goal remains the perceived cost of the intervention. Sharing some of the latest evidence on the cost-benefit of CI’s he demonstrated that the earlier people had access to CI’s the more society would save on other interventions and the greater the benefits would be for individuals’ quality of life. He urged advocates when talking to Governments and health providers to stress the potential savings from investing in hearing care and CI’s not the cost of the intervention. 

Download his presentation as pdf

Brian Lamb of CIICA asked What does (not having) a Cochlear Implant Cost?, Sue Archbold launched the new CIICA Briefing Paper on Cochlear Implants for Deaf Children. (Downloadable in www.ciicanet.org/resources). Anita Grover, AVUK, and member of our Communication Group, inspiring about what is possible.

CIICA NETWORK MEETS AND PRESENTS AT HEAL CONFERENCE, COMO

For the first time for four years, we were able to meet again at this unique conference, on the shores of Lake Como, thanks to Professor Grandori.

The meeting started with Dr Shelly Chadha, of WHO, sharing the World Report on Hearing and the great initiatives by WHO in Ear and Hearing Care. Delegates were delighted to meet face to face again, and it showed us what we had missed in the past couple of years.

Leo De Raeve, our Acting Chair, introduced CIICA to the delegates and Brian Lamb and Sue Archbold shared the achievements of CIICA in its first year, with CI advocacy members in 53 countries.

CIICA presented on the initial results of the adult survey in collaboration with York University, Toronto, with Professor Connie Mayer and Dr Sue Archbold highlighting the early data from the 1283 respondents. See these results in www.ciicanet.org/news.

As is so often the case, captioning wasn’t available until Lidia Best, President of EFHOH, and Founding Member of CIICA, with the help of the excellent AV team, organised it by link from UK for Saturday morning. So useful not only for hard of hearing but for those with English as a second language, and those troubled by the air conditioning!

A great opportunity for CIICA networks to get together for the first time in person.

The discussions and plans went on until Saturday lunchtime with a great vibe, thanks to Prof Grandori and his team and the enthusiastic delegates!

Meeting up!