NPPCD to begin in 8 Odisha districts

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar, April 12: The National Programme for Prevention and Control of Deafness (NPPCD) will start in eight districts of Odisha during the current financial year.The districts are Cuttack Ganjam, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Khurdha, Koraput, Mayurbhanj and Sambalpur.Hearing loss is the most common sensory deficit in humans today, and as per WHO estimates in India, there are approximately 63 million people, who are suffering from significant auditory impairment.This places the estimated prevalence at 6.3% in Indian population.As per NSSO survey, currently there are 291 persons per one lakh population who are suffering from severe to profound hearing loss (NSSO, 2001).Of these, a large percentage is children between the ages of 0 to 14 years.With such a large number of hearing impaired young Indians, it amounts to a severe loss of productivity, both physical and economic.An even larger percentage of our population suffers from milder degrees of hearing loss and unilateral (one sided) hearing loss. In Odisha, around 300 per lakh people suffer and 3.8% new persons are added to the total population every year as per NSSO report for 2001.Objectives of the programme are to prevent avoidable hearing loss on account of disease or injury; early identification, diagnosis and treatment of ear problems responsible for hearing loss and deafness; and to medically rehabilitate persons of all age groups, suffering with deafness.To strengthen the existing inter-sectoral linkages for continuity of the rehabilitation programme, for persons with deafness and to develop institutional capacity for ear care services by providing support for equipment, material and training personnel.The programme was a 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme during 11th Five Year PlanHowever, in as per the 12th Five Year Plan, the Centre and the States will have to pool in resources under financial norms of NRHM mutatis mutandis.The programme was initiated in year 2007 on pilot mode in 25 districts of 11 State/UTs.The programme has been expanded to 192 districts of 20 States/UTs.In the 12th Plan, it is proposed to expand the programme to additional 200 districts in a phased manner probably covering all the States and Union by March, 2017.