Childhood hearing loss; a need for primary health care.

Introduction: Essential health care for children is the care of the ear.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study of 155 children with hearing loss.

Results: A total of 155 pupils with hearing impairment and their parents were interviewed; 77(49.7%) males and 78(50.3%) females, age ranged from 6 to 15years (mean 9.11 ± 2.5 years). None of the participants had neonatal hearing screening. Parents detected the hearing loss at a mean age of 2.3 ± 1.1years. Initial care was given by community health workers and general medical practitioners, only 21 participants had otolaryngological consultation and none had audiological rehabilitation. Barriers to accessing services were financial constraints, poor awareness and non-availability of otolaryngological service for the hearing impaired in the communities.

Conclusion: Hearing impaired children in Nigeria have poor access to ear care. There is a need to create awareness of otological services and incorporate ear-care into the primary health care.