The White House COVID-19 response team said Friday that all coronavirus vaccines currently available were safe and effective and urged Americans to take whichever one they had access to, after the mayor of Detroit reportedly declined an allocation of the Johnson & Johnson drug.At a news briefing Thursday, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said he was declining a shipment of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, adding that while it was a very good vaccine, he felt the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were better and he wanted to get the people of Detroit “the best.”At a virtual news briefing Friday, coronavirus special adviser Andy Slavitt said that the White House reached out to the mayor and that there had been a misunderstanding. It was not Duggan’s intent to refuse the vaccine, said Slavitt, adding, “In fact, he is very eager for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.”National Institutes of Health infectious-disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci again said that all three approved vaccines were “extraordinarily” effective in preventing severe disease and death. He advised taking the first available vaccine because the important thing is to be vaccinated.Meanwhile, Centers for Disease Control Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the agency hoped to release its official guidance for people who have been fully vaccinated. She said she understood people were eager to know what they could and couldn’t do, but that the centers wanted to make sure to get the advice right.The CDC guidelines would address a myriad of questions regarding approved activities, such as wearing a mask, flying on an airplane, or patronizing a bar or restaurant.More than 54 million people in the U.S. have received at least one shot; more than 27 million Americans are fully vaccinated.  
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The World Health Organization says it is using every measure it has to curb the spread of parallel Ebola outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo. One of the biggest lessons learned from the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa — the largest in history — is the critical importance of acting quickly to contain the deadly disease.  World health officials began marshaling staff and working on a strategy to combat the disease as soon as the first cases of the Ebola virus were detected in Guinea on February 14. A rapid assessment conducted by the WHO in the country and in the region found the risk level to be very high. WHO Representative in Guinea, Georges Alfred Ki-Zerbo, said the WHO and partners have been stepping up efforts to implement Guinea’s Strategic response plan. FILE – Health workers from the Guinean Ministry of Health prepare forms to register medical staff ahead of their anti-Ebola vaccines at the N’zerekore Hospital, Feb. 24, 2021.That, he said, involves increased surveillance on the ground, accelerating preparedness measures in neighboring countries, and working closely with communities to interrupt the outbreak as soon as possible. “In doing so, we are engaging traditional healers, including also traditional practitioners, and we are going into communities to discuss with them, to listen to them and see what is the understanding of the disease, what is the fears and the preoccupation of the communities so that we can increase the success of our interventions,” Ki-Zerbo said. To date, the WHO reports 18 cases of Ebola in Guinea, including four deaths. Ki-Zerbo said health workers have traced hundreds of people who have come in contact with infected people. So far, he ssaid, more than 1,600 people have been vaccinated against the virus, including high-risk contacts and health workers. Meanwhile, North Kivu province in eastern Congo is experiencing its own fresh Ebola outbreak. Since February 7, the WHO reports there have been 11 cases and four deaths. Another Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo ended just last June. WHO director of strategic health operations, Michel Yao, said dealing with both the COVID-19 and Ebola epidemics is a challenge, especially in countries with fragile health systems. “There are some similar approaches, at least, in some of the components like community isolation, as well as the preventive measures that have to be implemented,” Yao said. “Vaccination is maybe less challenging because this works in different areas. And I think the approach in most of the countries, as with COVID, they will probably start with health workers.” WHO health officials agree it will likely be difficult to get the funding needed to stem the twin Ebola outbreaks. Besides appealing to government donors, they said they also will tap leading financial institutions such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank and the U.S. Agency for International Development. 
 
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The east-central African nation of Rwanda began its COVID-19 vaccination program Friday, using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, making it the first African nation to administer the drug. The nation received 102,960 doses of Pfizer-BioNTech and 240,000 doses of AstraZeneca through the international vaccine cooperative, COVAX facility earlier this week. Rwandan health authorities began transporting both shots around the hilly nation of 12 million people using helicopters to reach far-flung areas.  Earlier this week, Minister of Health Dr. Daniel Ngamije said the nation’s vaccination plan would prioritize high-risk groups first, including the sick and the elderly, as well as front-line medical workers. He said the government’s goal was to vaccinate 30% of Rwandans by the end of 2021, and 60% by the end of 2022. The government of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, which prides itself on efficiency and technological prowess but is often criticized as authoritarian, has installed special infrastructure to keep the Pfizer vaccine at the recommended -80 to -60 Celsius. Last week, after examining research conducted by its manufacturers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, when transported and stored at conventional refrigerator temperatures, can still be effective for up to two weeks. 
 
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A U.S. and a Japanese astronaut ventured out of the International Space Station (ISS) Friday, in the second of two spacewalks conducted this week to complete upgrades and repairs to the orbiting outpost.
 
NASA Flight Engineer Kate Rubins and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi, have a number of tasks on their agenda, including venting ammonia from the Early Ammonia System and complete installing support frames for new, high-efficiency solar panels, a project begun during a spacewalk Sunday.
 
Friday’s spacewalk is the fourth for both Rubins and Noguchi in their astronaut careers, and the 236th in the ISS’s 20-year history.
 
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A Wall Street Journal report says World Health Organization investigators who recently visited China to determine the origins of the emergence of the COVID-19 virus will not release a promised interim report of their findings.The Journal account, published Thursday, said the WHO team decided not to release its interim account “amid mounting tensions between Beijing and Washington.” Another international group of scientists has called for the WHO to conduct a new inquiry into COVID’s origins.The scientists calling for a new probe said in an open letter Thursday that the WHO team “did not have the mandate, the independence, or the necessary accesses to carry out a full and unrestricted investigation.”The scientists also noted in their letter that the WHO investigators in China were joined by their Chinese counterparts.A report in The Guardian says hospitals in Papua New Guinea have run out of money and are “shutting their doors” because of an uptick in COVID-19 cases. The country had registered 124 new coronavirus cases in all of February but had 108 new infections by March 4.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a public warning Thursday about thermal imaging devices or scanners used by many businesses to measure elevated temperature, a COVID symptom.The FDA alert said, “improper use of the systems may provide inaccurate temperature readings due to a variety of factors.” The agency also said it has sent “several Warning Letters” to companies that are “offering unapproved, uncleared, and unauthorized thermal imaging systems for sale.Auckland, New Zealand, is set to ease its seven-day lockdown on Sunday, moving from alert level three to alert level two because no new community coronavirus cases were recorded Friday. The rest of the country is scheduled to move to alert level one Sunday.Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center said early Friday there are more than 115 million global COVID cases. The U.S. remains at the top of the list with almost 29 million infections, followed by India with 11 million and Brazil with 10.7 million.
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Confidence in COVID-19 vaccines is growing, with people’s willingness to have the shots increasing as they are rolled out across the world and concerns about possible side effects are fading, a 14-country survey showed on Friday.Co-led by Imperial College London’s Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) and the polling firm YouGov, the survey found trust in COVID-19 vaccines had risen in nine out of 14 countries covered, including France, Japan and Singapore, which had previously had low levels of confidence.The latest update of the survey, which ran from Feb. 8-21, found that people in Britain are the most willing, with 77% saying they would take a vaccine designed to protect against COVID-19 if one was available that week.This is up from 55% in November, shortly before the first COVID-19 vaccine — co-developed by Pfizer- BioNTech — gained regulatory approval for use in Britain.People in France, Singapore and Japan remained among the least willing to have a COVID-19 vaccine, at 40%, 48% and 48%, respectively, but all three have seen confidence rising since November when only 25%, 36% and 39% of people were positive.The survey also found that worries over vaccine side effects have faded in the majority of countries, with fewer than half (45%) of all respondents currently reporting concern.Again, people in France, Singapore and Japan are currently most worried about side effects, with around six in 10 feeling concerned (56%, 59%, 61%), while Britain is the least concerned.The latest survey involved more than 13,500 people in Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Spain and Sweden.
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Astronauts aboard the International Space Station this week built the bones for much-needed power upgrades.  Also, SpaceX took flight with and without success, and flaming space junk lights up Australian skies.  VOA’s Arash Arabasadi brings us the Week in Space.
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Women’s rights activists in Kenya have welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden’s order revoking the ban blocking U.S. funding to women’s health organizations that provide abortion or abortion-related services. Critics say the so-called gag rule left women uninformed about safe options to end a pregnancy.  
   
Forty-five-year-old Najma Wangoi lost her sister in 2018 after she bought medicine from a drug store to induce an abortion and it led to her death.   
 
The mother of two says her sister didn’t know there was a better way to end a pregnancy.  
     
“She didn’t know because she bought those medicines for 3,500 shillings ($35). If she knew there was a place to do a safe abortion, she would still be alive. She should have explained her situation to the hospital, and she would have been treated,” Wangoi said.
     
Under the global gag rule, originally enacted by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and revived by President Donald Trump, it became difficult for millions of women to seek abortion services at health centers receiving U.S. funds.    
 
The gag rule blocked U.S. government funding for organizations if they provided abortion services, counseling or referrals.   
 
The rule effectively shut down health clinics, as well as community sensitization programs about sexual and reproductive health.  
 
Boniface Ushie, researcher with the African Population and Health Research Center, says while the ban has now been lifted by U.S. President Joe Biden, it will not be enough to undo the effects it had on women’s health in Africa.  
   
“Lifting it is great, but it’s going to take a while for the impact of the global gag rule as instituted by Trump to begin to lift. So, it’s going to require a lot of funding. It’s going to require a lot of programs to undo what has been done over the past four years,” Ushie said.
 
Thirty-three-year-old Rose Akoth said she is lucky to be alive after taking tablets to abort a baby in 2019. After three days of pain, the fetus emerged but the placenta got stuck in her womb, requiring urgent medical attention.   
 
“I have a health problem now since I did the abortion because it didn’t come out well. These days my menstruation goes for a month and there is nothing I am using like family planning. My menstrual period goes on non-stop,” she said.  
   
Akoth, Wangoi and others hope that with the gag rule lifted, more women can be saved from abortion-related deaths and health crises.  
  
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The World Health Organization’s Europe director reported Thursday that new COVID-19 cases rose 9% to just over a million in the region last week.  
 
Hans Kluge said it was the first increase in new infections after six weeks of decline.
 
At a virtual news briefing from his headquarters in Copenhagen, Kluge told reporters that more than half the region saw increases in new cases.
 
Kluge said most of the resurgence was seen in central and eastern Europe, although new cases were also on the rise in several western European countries where rates were already high.  
 
 “Over a year into the pandemic, our health systems should not be in this situation. We need to get back to the basics,” he said.
 
He said the high rates of transmission and rapid spread of variants require increased vigilance, improved testing and isolation of cases, tracing and quarantining contacts, and care.  
 
Kluge said the so-called British variant has been reported in 43 of 53 countries in the region; the South African variant in 26 countries; and the variant originally identified in Brazil and Japan in 15 countries.  
 
The WHO Europe chief urged nations to accelerate the rollout of vaccines, saying they are already saving lives, with hospitalizations and deaths in most at-risk groups declining significantly.  
 
Kluge said 45 countries have started vaccinations in the European region.
 
He also called on leaders to reengage with their communities to counter “pandemic fatigue” to prevent people from putting aside preventative measures.
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The World Health Organization says COVID-19 vaccine distribution in African countries is accelerating and hopeful signs are emerging that a significant proportion of Africa’s population will be covered by the end of the year. Latest figures put the number of infections in Africa at more than 3.9 million, with 104,000 deaths.Data show the COVID-19 pandemic overall is on a downward trend in most countries on the continent. However, World Health Organization officials fear a resurgence of cases in the future as pressure increases to ease lockdown restrictions. They point to a recent rise of COVID-19 cases in 10 countries as a worrying sign.At the same time, the acceleration of vaccine distribution in Africa is giving rise to hope. WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said nearly 10 million vaccine doses have been delivered to 11 countries this week and she expects about half of all countries on the continent will receive COVID-19 vaccine deliveries in the coming weeks.She said most countries will have vaccination programs underway by the end of March. Moeti said the COVAX facility is targeting three percent of the population as it starts its vaccine rollout across Africa. But, she added, COVAX aims to increase that figure and cover 20 percent of the population by the end of the year.“We are very pleased that the African Union, working through its acquisition, vaccine acquisition task team has targeted ensuring that by the end of the year, sufficient vaccine has been procured and available to countries to cover 60 percent of the population,” she said.By the end of the year, Moeti said she hopes to reach a level of coverage in African countries that not only reduces severe illness and deaths but also starts to slow down the spread of the coronavirus.In other words, she said she hopes the continent will achieve so-called herd immunity. 
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Nearly 50 countries have either received or ordered at least one of the three Chinese-developed COVID-19 vaccines, according to an Associated Press survey. More with VOA’s Mariama Diallo on the vaccine rollouts.
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U.S. President Joe Biden, while expressing frustration, has limited power to overrule decisions by state governors who are ending mask mandates and lifting other restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic.”I think it’s a big mistake,” Biden told a small group of reporters Wednesday in the Oval Office when asked about Republican governors in Texas and Mississippi casting off restrictions and allowing businesses to reopen at full capacity.As the nation makes progress with vaccinations, “the last thing we need is the Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime, ‘Everything’s fine. Take off your mask. Forget it,’ ” added the president, a Democrat. “It still matters.”During the previous administration of Republican President Donald Trump, who downplayed the severity of COVID-19 despite eventually becoming infected himself, not wearing a mask became a political statement.Since taking office in January, Biden and top federal health officials repeatedly have emphasized mask wearing and social distancing while the country escalates the number of Americans being vaccinated against the virus.He noted during Wednesday’s brief interaction with reporters that he carries a card with the updated number of people in the country who have died because of the coronavirus.“As of yesterday, we had lost 511,874 Americans. We’re going to lose thousands more,” said Biden. “We’ll not have everybody vaccinated until sometime in the summer.”The president, urging people to frequently wash their hands, wear masks and maintain social distancing, added, “And I know you all know that I wish the heck some of our elected officials knew it.”FILE – In this image from video, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks during a briefing on the Biden administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jan. 27, 2021, in Washington.Earlier Wednesday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said that “now is not the time” to lift COVID-19 restrictions.” Her comment came a day after Texas Governor Greg Abbott declared his state “100% open.”Texas, the second most populous state in the country, ranks 47th out of 50 for COVID-19 vaccinations per capita.At a virtual news briefing for the White House COVID-19 response,  Walensky said the next month or two would be pivotal in deciding the trajectory of the pandemic.While infection rates across the country have been leveling off, COVID-19 variants such as the highly transmissible so-called British strain are poised to surge, threatening to destroy what progress has been made, Walensky said.FILE – Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signs legislation at the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson, June 30, 2020.In Mississippi on Tuesday, Governor Tate Reeves followed Texas’ move and lifted his state’s mask mandate and business restrictions.Under the U.S. Constitution and because of Supreme Court decisions, states — not the federal government — have primary authority to control the spread of dangerous diseases within their jurisdictions.“A federalist system means that the central government, the United States government, is a government of limited powers, and the states retain police powers, which historically has included public health,” explained Meryl Chertoff, an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University in Washington.The Commerce Clause, which gives Congress exclusive authority to regulate interstate and foreign commerce, does allow the federal government to order quarantines and impose other health measures to prevent the spread of diseases from foreign countries, as well as between states. But that authority has never been affirmed by the courts, according to the American Bar Association.A year ago, at the start of the pandemic, Trump said he had discussed “a national lockdown” with advisers to minimize the spread of the coronavirus. Several days later, he dismissed the idea.“I think it was a political decision to leave these decisions to the governors in order to be able to allocate praise and blame,” Chertoff, the executive director of the Georgetown Project on State and Local Government Policy and Law, told VOA.Some authorities desired a powerful federal response, but an unprecedented executive order would likely have been challenged in the courts on constitutional grounds.FILE – Tenants’ rights advocates march from the Edward W. Brooke Courthouse, Jan. 13, 2021, in Boston. The protest called on the then-incoming Biden administration to extend the eviction moratorium initiated in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Courts are currently considering the constitutionality of evictions amid the pandemic, which had been ordered halted by the CDC, a federal agency.“This is relevant to the mask mandates because it suggests that the courts are now starting to consider whether under provisions of the Public Health Services Act of 1944 … the authority of the federal government to act with respect to emergency public health situations is broader than has been previously acknowledged,” said Chertoff.She cautioned that those who want the president and the executive branch to have “a more muscular set of tools” to deal with an unprecedented public health crisis need to consider that once the federal government has such tools, “they will be around not just for the next four years, but for the next 40 years.”   
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The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said Wednesday “now is not the time” to lift COVID-19 restrictions, one day after the governor of Texas announced the southern U.S. state was “100 percent open.”  At a virtual news briefing for the White House COVID-19 response, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the next month or two will be pivotal in deciding the trajectory of the pandemic.    FILE – In this image from video, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky speaks during a briefing on the Biden administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jan. 27, 2021, in Washington. (White House via AP)On one hand, she noted infection rates across the country have been leveling off, but, she said, COVID-19 variants such as the highly transmissible so-called British strain, are poised to surge. This threatens to destroy what progress has been made.   Walensky also recognized that pandemic fatigue is winning out and people have begun ignoring measures that she says have successfully contributed to driving down U.S. infection rates.   The CDC director said this is occurring just as the United States begins a program to vaccinate the entire nation over the course of three or four months.  Walensky urged Americans to keep wearing masks and communities to encourage mask use. She advocated for precautions such as avoiding travel, crowds and to continue practicing personal hygiene, whether it is government-mandated or not.   Texas’ Republican Governor Greg Abbott Tuesday lifted his state’s mask-wearing mandate, along with all other restrictions on businesses, saying Texas has mastered the daily habits necessary to avoid getting COVID-19. 
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The World Health Organization says one in 10 people worldwide is expected to suffer from hearing loss by 2050. But in the United States, health officials say around 20 percent of America’s adult population is already experiencing some level of hearing loss and the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the problem to a greater extent. As the country marks FILE – Director of Empowering Deaf Society Mangai Sutharsan, puts on a partially transparent mask following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Ilford, London, Britain, July 29, 2020.Experts are also worried about the next generation of Americans. While children with hearing problems often show poor school performance, hearing loss in teenagers has been on the rise.  Currently, one in five teens exhibits some level of loss, according to the Hearing Loss Association of America. This number has increased by more than 30 percent since the 1990s, which to some extent has to do with “listening to loud music,” Shoup said. About 466 million people worldwide struggle with disabling hearing loss, according to the WHO. By 2050, this number could rise to 900 million people. In 2007, the World Health Organization designated March 3 as World Hearing Health Day to raise awareness of the growing numbers of those suffering from hearing loss and the importance of hearing health care. FILE – Resound LiNX2 connected smart hearing aids are shown at ShowStoppers during the 2017 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, Jan. 5, 2017.In 2017, the National Institute on Deafness & Other Communication Disorders, whisih is part of the National Institutes of Health, said that 48 million Americans suffer some type of hearing loss.  “The growing health problem of hearing loss is often unrecognized in U.S. adults, adolescents and children and it leads to a long list of problems including depression, isolation, academic delays, impaired communication and cognitive decline. We are grateful that this awareness day was created to shine a light on the significance of hearing loss,” said Shoup. Shoup is also the executive director of the Callier Center for Communication Disorders and a professor of speech, language and hearing in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas.  FILE – An employee of GN, the world’s fourth largest maker of hearing aids, demonstrates the use of ReSound LiNX in Vienna, Nov. 22, 2013.“We also look to this day to help educate the public on the importance of seeing an audiologist for professional evaluation and management of hearing and balance difficulties,” she said.   According to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, approximately 20 percent of American adults aged 20 to 69 have some trouble with hearing and approximately 28.8 million could benefit from the use of hearing aids.    Some signs of hearing loss may include:…  Suddenly having to turn up the volume of the television, radio, or stereo and having other family members complain that the volume is too loud. Difficulty understanding people speaking to you and asking people to repeat themselves. Difficulty with phone conversations and understanding the other person. Sudden inability to hear the door bell, the dog barking, and other household sounds. People telling you that you speak too loudly. Ringing in the ears.   
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Scientists are warning that a variant of the novel coronavirus that was first detected in Brazil could reinfect people already recovering from COVID-19.  The P.1 variant has spread to more than 20 countries since it was first detected last November in the Amazonian region city of Manaus.  A joint study by scientists in Britain and Brazil says the variant is 1.4 to 2.4 times more transmissible than the original version of the coronavirus.  Manaus was struck by an initial wave of COVID-19 infections in April and May of last year.  According to researchers, by October almost 80% of recovering coronavirus patients should have developed antibodies that would have made them immune to the virus. Peru will Receive a Second Vaccine Wednesday to Battle COVID-19Peru to receive the first batch of 50,000 doses of Pfizer vaccine Wednesday    But 25% to 61% of those who had recovered from a first bout of COVID-19 were reinfected with the P.1 variant, according to the study, which has not been peer-reviewed.Scientists are worried that new and more infectious variants of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 could be resistant to vaccine now being distributed around the world.  But Nuno Faria, a virologist at Imperial College London who co-led the study, says it is too early to determine if the situation in Brazil with the P.1 variant will also occur elsewhere.  The release of the study on the P.1 variant coincided with official data from Brazil showing it had recorded its highest single-day number of COVID-19 deaths with 1,641.The COVID-19 pandemic has sickened more than 114.8 million people around the globe since it was first detected in central China in late 2019, including 2.5 million deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.The pandemic has also led to what the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has described as an “education emergency,” with more than 168 million children around the world locked out of the classroom for nearly a year.   UNICEF says 98 million children across Latin America and the Caribbean account for the majority of students who have missed in-person learning.  U.S. country music superstar Dolly Parton tried to inject hope and encouragement Tuesday as she was injected with her first dose of the Moderna vaccine. In a short video she posted on Twitter, the 75-year-old singer-songwriter received the vaccine at Vanderbilt University Health Center in Nashville, Tennessee.Dolly gets a dose of her own medicine. @VUMChealthpic.twitter.com/38kJrDzLqC— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) March 2, 2021Before getting the shot, Parton revamped one of her most famous songs, “Jolene,” to encourage viewers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
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To mark World Hearing Day, the World Health Organization is calling for action to stem the epidemic of hearing loss, which currently affects 1.5 billion people globally.  A roadmap for action is contained in WHO’s first World Report on Hearing.     WHO officials warn nearly 2.5 billion people will be living with some degree of hearing loss by 2050 if nothing is done to prevent or mitigate this condition.  Nearly a third, they say will require hearing rehabilitation.   The personal and economic cost of this condition is huge.  Many people who are deaf or suffer from varying degrees of hearing loss are stigmatized and spend much of their lives in isolation.   Additionally, WHO reports unaddressed hearing loss costs the global economy nearly $1 trillion  each year.   WHO technical officer on ear and hearing care Shelly Chadha says much of this hearing loss can be prevented.   “Many of the causes, for example, hearing loss which is caused by listening to loud music over one’s headphones and earphones — this can be prevented.  As can be hearing loss, which is caused by loud noise in one’s workplace.  Other common causes of hearing loss — ear infections, rubella, meningitis — these are causes which can be prevented by established public health strategies.”     Chadha notes almost 60% of hearing loss in children is due to avoidable causes such as ear infections and birth complications.  She says solutions are available.  She says hearing technologies, such as hearing aids and cochlear implants accompanied by rehabilitative therapy can mitigate the adverse effects of hearing loss.   “Millions of people across the world are already benefiting from these interventions.  But they are a bit of an exclusive group because what we estimate is that across the world only about 17 percent of people who need these services actually are able to benefit from them,” she said.     People in low-income countries are the most underserved because they lack the specialists, audiologists and speech therapists who can provide the care required.  WHO says this gap can be closed by integrating ear and hearing care into national primary health care services.   WHO calls this a great investment, noting for every dollar invested in hearing loss care, governments can expect a return of nearly $16.  
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