Malta has been internationally praised as being a pioneer for having free and inclusive hearing loss prevention tests.

This statement was made by the international coordinator of the hearing health forum, Patrick D’Haese.

During the conference, the Minister for Inclusion, Julia Farrugia Portelli, expressed how this achievement was not possible without a lot of hard work over the years alongside the president of the EU Hearing Forum and the Rapporteur on the Protection of Persons with Disabilities, PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba.

Agius Saliba said that this project was important because it revealed the problem Maltese people are experiencing on a daily basis.

The project was led by the Maltese Association of Audiologists (MAA) with Andrew Sciberras as their president, which set up four centres around Malta where people were allowed to get free hearing tests.

The project was called Hearing Care for All and the MAA revealed that there were 515 hearing tests overall, with participants who came from 24 different localities. Out of all the participants, 41% of these were found to have a hearing impairment.

Following the success of this project, Farrugia Portelli revealed that the project will be continued in more localities, along with a nationwide awareness campaign that shall be launched in the coming months to raise awareness for hearing loss.

“Through hearing tests in other localities and an awareness campaign, more people will have the opportunity to take the necessary and immediate steps to prevent hearing loss and prevent excluding anyone from society due to this condition,” said Andrew Sciberras. 

According to Farrugia Portelli, the expansion of this project will continue to strengthen the relationship between Malta and the WHO, whilst promoting the importance of preventing hearing loss worldwide. Furthermore, she also appealed to other European countries to follow in Malta’s footsteps and be more proactive and inclusive with hearing loss tests.