Al Jalila Foundation to sponsor ear implants of children

Dr Abdulkareem Sultan Alolama, CEO of Al Jalila Foundation.

Children in the UAE with severe hearing loss have been given new hope thanks to the Al Jalila Foundation.
Hard of hearing youngsters will be fitted with cutting-edge cochlear implants as part of the foundation's Ana Asma'a (I hear) programme.
Applicants will be assessed on a case-by-case basis and the programme will be open to all nationalities. In 2014, as part of the A'awen (support) medical aid programme, Al Jalila Foundation sponsored the treatment of one-year-old, Hana Sarmiento, who underwent a bilateral cochlear implant at hearLIFE Clinic.
Living in Sharjah, Hana did not have any hearing test when she was born. When she was 10-months-old, she picked up a viral infection during a trip back home to the Philippines.
On her first birthday, Hana's parents took her to a doctor who confirmed that Hana had only 30 per cent hearing in one ear and was completely deaf in the other.
On December 2 last year, she was fitted with the implant. Hana's hearing treatment is the second cochlear implant Al Jalila Foundation has sponsored. Following the success of Hana's treatment, the idea to launch Ana Asma'a was born.
Early treatment is crucial
Untreated hearing loss can often affect a person's social stability by delaying progression in speech, language and listening skills.
Though some of us may take the sense of sound for granted, the implant will be life-changing for the recipients. Dedicated to transforming lives through medical education and research, the foundation will fit each child with an implant to restore their hearing. CEO of the Al Jalila Foundation, Dr Abdulkareem Al Olama, said research has made such life-changing medical procedures possible. He said the Ana Asma'a programme will help parents give their child the opportunity to live a normal life. "By undergoing this medical procedure, parents and children are offered renewed hope in their future. We consider it an enormous privilege to be able to give children in the UAE the gift of hearing."
In 2012, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that hearing loss affects about three per cent of the Middle East population. In the UAE, about 3,000 people are living with the condition.
According to leading healthcare specialists, hearing loss is one of the top five severe health issues affecting people in this region, alongside obesity and diabetes.
Specialists agreed that mandatory newborn hearing screenings are needed to tackle the problem.
In this region, hearing loss mostly affects children from birth. Some experts have suggested that marriage between blood relatives is one of the key factors contributing to this rise in hearing loss diagnoses.
For assessment please email: aawen@aljalilafoundation.ae.
kelly@khaleejtimes.com

• Dubai