In 2009, the Newborn Hearing Screening Program was widely announced and welcomed by both the healthcare community and families. But what is the balance sheet almost 13 years later?
While in British Columbia, 97% of babies are screened at birth, and in Ontario, this percentage rises to more than 94%, Quebec ranks far behind. According to the most recent data from the Department of Health and Social Services, only 53% of Quebec babies are screened at birth, or 42,284 births out of 80,145. An unacceptable and unfair situation for our children.
Regional inequities
Even today, several regions do not have the service. Future mothers residing in Outaouais prefer to travel to Ontario to give birth to their child because they know that the child will be tested there. Other parents have to fight and wait several months to obtain a diagnosis or else decide to go private.
This is without counting the parents who finally discover their child’s deafness at the age of 2 years and sometimes much later, because he presents certain language delays, for lack of early detection.
Important development impacts
The contact of the child with his sound environment is essential. It allows him to acquire speech and language, but also to develop his social skills and ensure his cognitive and socioaffective development. The child who presents a deafness, whether mild or severe, is deprived of an important source of learning which goes beyond the aspects of oral communication and which can also have significant consequences on his school career, his social life. , personal growth.
Deafness, far from being a marginal phenomenon
We find it hard to understand such slowness, especially since hearing impairment is the second most prevalent disorder with visual impairment in children under 5 years old. Each year, 4 to 6 out of 1000 babies are born with hearing loss. It should also be noted that more than 90% of children born with deafness have hearing parents, who therefore have no suspicion of this possibility.
Really act early
Over the years, delays have accumulated and excuses have multiplied, but it is clear that no one has taken the reins in this file. However, screening for hearing loss in newborns is quite simple to perform and requires little time. Delays cannot be attributed solely to COVID-19 or labor shortages, statistics from other Canadian provinces illustrate this very well.
On May 11, 2021, the National Assembly adopted a unanimous motion urging the government to complete the deployment of the program by the end of 2021. However, little progress has been made since. For a government that advocates the importance of acting early, it is now urgent to put words into action and show the necessary will to deploy the program throughout Quebec. The future of our children depends on it.