Malala Yousafzai gives inspiring message to young people around the world about overcoming hearing loss

March 2019: The youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has inspired young people with severe to profound hearing loss to follow their dreams and become the next generation of scientists, product designers and filmmakers.

A group of children and teenagers travelled from across the world to meet Malala in Sydney and hear her incredible story, including how she has overcome her own hearing loss after being shot and seriously injured by the Taliban. Malala has become a role model to all and has dedicated her life to campaigning for the rights of girls and young women to an education and equality.

Special moments for the group of young cochlear implant recipients from China, India, Brazil, Indonesia and Australia will be told in a series of short films entitled ‘Be Everything You Can Be’. After hearing the inspirational words of Malala, the young people share their hopes for the future, made possible because they received treatment for their hearing loss at an early age.

Dig Howitt, CEO and President of Cochlear, was in the audience to hear Malala’s inspiring words and said: “We’re really proud to support World Hearing Day to help raise awareness of hearing loss and the need for people to get regular hearing checks with a healthcare professional. Early diagnosis and access to the most appropriate treatment is critical to ensure young people with hearing loss achieve their full potential.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimate 34 million children around the world have disabling hearing loss.¹ Left unaddressed, hearing loss can have a significant adverse effect on the academic performance of children,¹ leading to a greater need for education assistance.¹

For this year’s World Hearing Day, the WHO is calling for people of all ages to have regular hearing checks. The global body is also urging Governments and health systems to provide more services for the early identification and intervention of hearing loss.²

Cochlear will join non-government organisations and charities across the world to launch ‘Be Everything You Can Be’ on social media with the hashtag #BeEverythingYouCanBe to celebrate World Hearing Day on 3^rd March.

Visit the World Health Organization’s website for more World Hearing Day campaign tools and resources, which encourage people to ‘check your hearing’: https://www.who.int/deafness/world-hearing-day/2019/en/

World Hearing Day 2019: ‘Check Your Hearing’

On World Hearing Day 2019 (March 3), the WHO will draw attention to the importance of early identification and intervention for hearing loss. Many people live with unidentified hearing loss, often failing to realise that they are missing out on certain sounds and words. Checking one’s hearing would be the first step towards addressing the issue.

Cochlear är världsledande på marknaden för implanterbara hörsellösningar. Företaget har 3 500 anställda globalt och investerar mer än 160 miljoner australiensiska dollar per år i forskning och utveckling. Produkterna innehåller hörselsystem för cochlea- och benledningsimplantat samt akustiska implantat. Fler än 450 000 människor i alla åldrar och i över 100 länder kan nu höra tack vare Cochlear.