Implementation of Newborn Hearing Screening linked with parents counseling

The project between the Lehnhardt Foundation and the Rehabilitation Centre for Medical Hearing AUROA (MC AURORA) aims to introduce Neonatal Hearing Screening (NHS) in four maternity hospitals near Kiev, Ukraine, and a national counselling hotline.

Background:

In NHS, newborns undergo an initial, simple hearing test to determine in time whether a hearing impairment is present. Currently, there is no national programme for early detection of hearing impairment and hearing intervention in Ukraine. Due to insufficient counselling, parents often wait until their children are 2-4 years old to have their hearing tested. This delay in interventions significantly affects the potential for treatment of hearing impairment.

Activities:

- Strategic planning to introduce a unified NHS programme and counselling hotline for parents.

- Training on NHS and early interventions

- Training of health workers on mobile screening devices

- video-based supervision of screenings

- Monthly exchange of experiences

Impact:

In the maternity clinics, NHS takes place as part of the first health check of newborns. In the event of an abnormal NHS result, parents can contact a competent counsellor via a hotline. Follow-up treatments are carried out in the paediatric-audiological centre of MC AURORA.