Prof ED Kitcher

Much has been said of the paucity of ENT Services in Africa [1]. Whilst Ghana has always been at the forefront of healthcare in Sub Saharan Africa, its ENT and allied services were somewhat suboptimal in the 1980s. This article,...

Breaking barriers in Uganda: the story of Elaine Mukaaya

More than 9% of sub-Saharan Africa’s one billion people live with disabling hearing loss, with children having among the highest rates of childhood hearing loss in the world [1]. Sadly, in concordance with the inverse care law – proposed by...

Spotlight on Africa: paediatric ENT focus

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) carries 24% of the global disease burden but employs only 3% of the world’s health workers [1]. Unique workforce considerations exist in SSA including a paucity of skilled health professionals and fluctuant political climates [1,2]. Shazia Peer...

The delivery of ENT services in Mongolia: what are its obstacles?

Globally, the burden of ENT disease is great. Disabling hearing loss (DHL) for example, is reported to affect half a billion people worldwide. The majority of afflicted individuals live in lower and middle-income countries (LMIC) [1]. This article, a collaboration...

What happens to donated hearing aids?

According to the WHO, only 3% of people in developing countries who require hearing aids have one. Over the years many people, organisations and companies have donated old hearing aids to charities. Bhavisha Parmar, an audiologist who volunteered with Sound...

Preventing avoidable deafness and death from ear disease in Ethiopia

In the July/August edition of the magazine, we featured an article on humanitarian work in Ethiopia, focusing on head and neck surgery. Continuing this theme, Misha Verkerk tells us about an international collaboration providing otology care and training in that...

ENT in Ethiopia: Aksum-Barts Partnership

In keeping with many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia has a chronic lack of hospitals and doctors. Nadia Ashraf and Tim Crocker-Buqué tell us about a project which aims to improve training in ENT, in a hospital that has...

A one-stop state of the art, non-profit healthcare facility in Pune, India

In 2001, a non-profit healthcare facility was founded in Pune India, providing low and middle income group patients with treatment, not only at a minimum cost, but of a quality which bears the stamp of approval by the Royal College...

Cambodian Otology Fellowship report

Further to a Humanitarian News article published in the November/December 2014 issue of ENT and Audiology News (see article here), this is a report of Charlie Huins’ six-month experience as the first ENT Fellow at the Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC),...

Labour rights violations in the manufacture of healthcare goods

Every year trillions of dollars are spent on medical supplies globally. The operating theatre is a significant proportion of this spend, typically accounting for a third of a hospital’s supply costs. When making purchasing decisions consideration is given to value...

Cambodian otology service – a fellowship with a difference

Cambodia is a country of 15 million people, still recovering from a chequered past. In the 1970s, under the Khmer Rouge, most of the medical profession, together with the rest of the educated population, was executed – the fortunate few...

In conversation with Lucy Carter

Sound Seekers is a UK based charity, seeking to help deaf people, particularly children, in the poorest communities in the world. The aim is to work in partnership with local organisations and institutions to ensure we deliver sustainable and cost-effective...