HEAR Africa! Connect is a German-Tanzanian cooperation project aiming at the implementation of a Newborn Hearing Screening (NHS) in Tanzania. While the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening (UNHS) has been an integral part of postnatal health care, many parts of the Global South lack this type of health service which often leaves hearing impairment undiscovered until a child starts school or even later. However, good hearing and a resulting successful language development are fundamental prerequisites for social inclusion and access to education as well as the primary labor market. Consequently, hearing impairments require early identification and therapeutic attention. A complete diagnostic process even beyond UNHS right up to providing hearing aids, Cochlear Implants and long-term Speech and Language Therapy to those affected is essential.
The project HEAR Africa! Connect focuses on developing sustainable structures for diagnostic, medical and therapeutic care for hearing-impaired children in Tanzania. The efforts include the following activities:
- Trainings for medical staff in the field of hearing diagnostics,
- Continuous hearing screenings in 10 Tanzanian partner clinics,
- Establishment of a Competence Center for hearing diagnostics at the project partner institutions, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and MuhimbiliNational Hospital (MNH) in Dar es Salaam,
- Establishing a network of medical and educational facilities to connect staff from different professions,
- Developing information material covering accessible topic-related content for several target groups.
The long-standing cooperation between Hannover Medical School (MHH) with the German Hearing Center (DHZ), Leibniz University Hannover (LUH), and Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) with Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH) is based on the Country Partnership between Lower Saxony and Tanzania, and directly followed its predecessor project, HEAR Africa! which was implemented between 2018-2024 directed by Leibniz University Hannover. Both projects were granted funding by the Lower Saxony Ministry for Social Affairs (MS) and the State Chancellery of Lower Saxony (StK).
Pioneering work in clinical practice: UNHS performed on a baby in the ENT department at MUHAS
Training on newborn hearing screening led by Prof. Dr Angelika Illg in the ENT department at MUHAS
Prof. Dr Ulrike Lüdtke and Prof. Dr Anke Lesinski-Schiedat in conversation with colleagues in East Africa