ArticleAfrican journal of primary health care & family medicine2021
Decentralising paediatric hearing services through district healthcare screening in Western Cape province, South Africa.
Article in African journal of primary health care & family medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Management pathways and outcomes of children with hearing loss identified through newborn and infant hearing screening at a tertiary paediatric hospital in the Western Cape, South Africa.The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir Kommunikasieafwykings · 2026Article
- Towards Policy Integration of Vestibular Management in Pediatric Hearing Health Care: Global Service Delivery Gaps with Relevance to Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries.Journal of the American Academy of Audiology · 2026Review
- Age of detection of congenital hearing loss in South Africa: A systematic review.Journal of public health in Africa · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChildhood hearing loss is a global epidemic most prevalent in low- and middle-income countries where hearing healthcare services are often inaccessible. Referrals for primary care services to central hospitals add to growing lists and delays the time-sensitive treatment of childhood hearing loss.
aimTo compare a centralised tertiary model of hearing healthcare with a decentralised model through district hearing screening for children in the Western Cape province, South Africa.
settingA central paediatric tertiary hospital in Cape Town and a district hospital in the South Peninsula region.
methodsA pragmatic quasi-experimental study design was used with a 7-month control period at a tertiary hospital (June 2019 to December 2019). Decentralising was measured by attendance rates, travelling distance, number of referrals to the tertiary hospital and hearing outcomes. There were 315 children in the tertiary group and 158 in the district group. Data were collected from patient records and an electronic database at the tertiary hospital.
resultsAttendance rate at the district hospital was significantly higher (p 0.001). Travel distance to the district hospital was significantly shorter (p 0.001). Number of referrals to the tertiary hospital decreased significantly during the intervention period (p 0.001). Most children in both the tertiary and district groups (78.7% and 80.4%, respectively) passed initial hearing screening bilaterally.
conclusionHearing screening should be conducted at the appropriate level of care to increase access, reduce patient travelling distances and associated costs and reduce the burden on tertiary-level hospitals.
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