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Organization: Zoota Initiative for Development

Title: Empowering Rural Communities With Hearing Health Care.
Alternate tite:

Empowering rural communities with hearing health care.

Description:

On the 3rd of March 2025, we held a community awareness session at Ringili Primary School in Arua District.
The session raised awareness about hearing health among 479 young people aged 10-22 in primary school, 18 teachers and 30 local policy leaders. The topics of education were; the understanding of the ear, ear care, safe hearing practices, access to ear checkups and treatment, the current statistics by WHO on the risk that young people face to hearing loss due to unhealthy hearing habits including; loud music, misuse of earphones, ear infections, and lack of proper ear care.
Following the awareness session, we engaged policymakers to advocate for hearing care services in rural communities. We collected recommendations from the community to inform our policy brief, which will be used to continue raising awareness and lobbying the government to invest in ear health care as part of public health in rural communities.

Primary site: AFR – Uganda
Secondary sites: N/A

 

Impactful Story:

“I have a student who always sat silently at the back and never participated in class. He never responded when called upon until neighboring students alerted him that he was being spoken to. During our WHD awareness session, Dr. Sophie demonstrated signs of hearing loss in young people. I realized that I had missed clues that he was suffering from hearing loss. After the talk, Dr. Sophie screened him and found severe untreated ear infections and referred him for treatment. Few days later, Candia returned to school with healthy ears. Today, he speaks and laughs confidently.” – Teacher, Ringili P/S

General Photos


A group photo with teachers and students of Ringili P/S


Dr. Sophie sharing during the awareness session


A student sharing their hearing loss journey and recovery


Teachers participating in the ear hygiene demonstrations

Types of Engagement:

Screening: Yes
Traditional media: No
Social media: Yes
Special needs populations: Teenage mothers who are survivors of domestic violence
Participation of policy makers: Yes
Participation of influencers: No