Starkey Hearing Foundation—a public charity focused on hearing health missions, hearing loss education, and hearing aid recycling—celebrated the second graduating class of its year-long program in hearing instrument sciences at the Starkey Hearing Institute in Zambia, the charity announced. These students came from around Africa to be trained in hearing instrument sciences, including Starkey’s WFA® community-based hearing healthcare model, and will now return to their home communities to identify, diagnose, and treat the over 30 million Africans with hearing loss.

Starkey Hearing Institute opened in 2016, with the mission to train hearing healthcare workers to address the urgent need for professionals who can provide quality care to people around Sub-Saharan Africa.

“The number of Africans in need of hearing care is astounding. With such a large number of people to serve, these specialists will play an essential role in their communities’ well-being,” said Owen Olende, Starkey Hearing Foundation director of global development. “We are determined to widen the reach of our simple, sustainable, and scalable community-based hearing healthcare program across Africa to provide much-needed care to those in need.”

The next Starkey Hearing Institute program will commence in early 2018, with 10 students from 8 countries around Africa.

Source: Starkey

Image: Starkey