Journal of Probiotics & Health
Open Access
ISSN: 2329-8901
+44 1223 790975
ISSN: 2329-8901
+44 1223 790975
Kalvince Otieno
Food Security For Peace and Nutrition-Africa(FSPN -AFRICA), Kenya
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Prob Health
Being deaf means not to hear or comprehend speech and language through the ear. A deaf person living in Kenya is neither recognized as someone who has a complete and rich language, nor as someone who belongs to a unique cultural group. But rather, perceived to lack the mental capability to speak or to hear. Deafness in the country is seen as a source of shame for families and many parents don�??t know the Sign Language to enable them communicate with their very own. With this perception, the deaf people, their economic, educational and social standing among the general population is among the lowest. Impairment in hearing has risen in the last 2 decades; with data showing that one out of every 10 people suffer from the problem. Some 20 years ago hearing problems were estimated to affect between 5-8 people out of every 100 Kenyans or less than one in every 10. Data compiled by Kenya National Special Needs Education Survey commissioned in 2014 by Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) Kenya in collaboration with the ministry of education shows that Kenyans are more afflicted by hearing loss compared to the global average of 5 people with hearing difficulties in every 100 based on statistics from World Health Organization. The World health body states that 360 Million people have disabling hearing loss with 63% of hearing impairment incidents in rural areas while 37 % are in urban areas. However, the cause for the hearing losses is unclear. Besides showing that deafness has increased the recent survey also found out that 49% of those with hearing impairment are men while 51% are female, indicating that there are hardly gender differentials on the matter. There is increasing international interests in links between malnutrition and disability as they are both major global public health concerns and prominent within the global health agenda. Children with hearing impairment are practically vulnerable to malnutrition as a result of exclusions and feeding difficulties. They are 1.6-2.9 times more likely to have malnutrition even in areas of food insecurity and widespread malnutrition.
E-mail: kalvinceotieno@gmail.com