Pilot study HEAR AFRICA! successfully started

Pioneering work in clinical practice: UNHS with a newborn at the MUHAS ENT department © Dr. Richard
Milestone reached: The cooperating team of MUHAS successfully completed the first 1.000 screenings © Dr. Richard

Pilot study HEAR AFRICA! successfully started – 1.000 newborns already screened in Tanzania

The first 1.000 newborn hearing screenings of the HEAR Africa! project have been completed at Tanzania’s Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS). Thanks to Dr. Enica Richard, Head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, and her team, a first milestone of the interdisciplinary pilot study was reached. Training, implementation and evaluation of the screenings are a central part of the research – a total of 5,000 babies will be tested for hearing disorders for the pilot study in cooperation with the two local project partners (MUHAS and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC)).

The HEAR Africa! project is based on an interdisciplinary cooperation between the Leibniz Lab for Relational Communication Research (Prof. Dr. Lüdtke, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ostermann, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rosenhahn) and the German Hearing Center Hanover (Deutsche HörZentrum Hannover) at Hannover Medical School (Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, MHH) (Prof. Dr. Anke Lesinski-Schiedat und PD Dr. Angelika Illg, Director: Prof. Prof. h.c. Dr. med. Thomas Lenarz). The internationally oriented project aims to improve the living situation and educational opportunities of hearing impaired children. As the partner country of Lower Saxony, Tanzania is the starting point for our activities.

In view of the successful start, the pilot study can now move on to the next round with good prospects.

A special thank you goes to the Lower Saxony Ministry for Social Affairs, Health and Equal Opportunities, the Lower Saxony State Chancellery, the KIND Hörstiftung and Zeisberg GmbH, who made this pilot study possible with their generous support.

www.dhz.clinic   

www.mhh-hno.de

www.mnh.or.tz/index.php/directorates/surgical-services/otorhinolaryngology-ent