Hearing Loss in Sierra Leone

The WHO estimates that 1.9% of the 250,000 children born in Sierra Leone each year - that’s 4,500 children each year - are born with hearing impairment, most of which is profound deafness.

By age five, due to illnesses such as meningitis, measles and mumps, that number will have risen to 8,000.

Deafness is a major cause of social and economic deprivation, condemning those with the disability to the margins of society. It’s often feared, and misunderstood as a learning disability. Unable to hear language, children often miss the chance to develop speech, which in a country where few people can sign, and literacy rates are low, leaves them locked out of communicating - socially isolated and vulnerable.

Children with hearing impairment generally struggle in mainstream schools, which in Sierra Leone are often of varied quality, and may be pushed to the margins of their families and communities.

Primary Education in Sierra Leone is technically free, but parents still need to pay for uniforms, school supplies, and often pay unofficial fees for school meals and other associated costs. For families with multiple children who need support, paying the school fees of a child with a hearing impairment may not be a priority - further isolating children with hearing impairment.

St Joseph’s supports families struggling with school fees and boarding costs wherever possible.

There are only two schools in Sierra Leone which specialise in teaching deaf children - one in Freetown, and the other St Joseph’s. St Joseph’s is the only school which provides boarding facilities (which enable children from across the country to attend) and an audiology centre.

Currently, the audiology provision including hearing testing, hearing aid fitting, hearing aid finetuning and ear mould provision, is the only service of its kind in Sierra Leone. It serves as a centre for outreach projects aimed at deaf people from across the country. Members of the public are offered a hearing assessment free of charge but there is currently no provision to fit them with hearing aids.

In a country with extremely high levels of poverty, deaf people face even more hardship when it comes to making a living. Opportunities are limited, so the qualifications, skills and training that young adults receive at St Joseph’s help them to earn an independent living when they leave the school.