The World Health Organization (W HO) estimates that 5 percent of the world’s population (430 million people) are living with “disabling” hearing loss. This number is envisaged to grow to over 700 million people (one in every ten people) by 2050. Of this population, about 80 percent are people living in developing countries.
In Kenya, of the 900,000 (2.2 percent) persons with disabilities, 150,000 people (16 percent) are living with hearing loss. This is a significant population, who are likely to be sidelined due to the non-inclusivity of our systems. In Kenya, we pride ourselves in achieving 82.9 percent financial inclusion. However, only 0.5 percent of persons with disabilities are part of these statistics.