Twenty children aged 0 to 6 with hearing impairments from around Turkmenistan received modern hearing aids today. The hand over of hearing equipment was organized jointly by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Ashgabat, UNICEF and public organization ‘Yenme’.
This initiative is supporting the national efforts of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry and the Ministry of Education to develop a strategy on assistive technologies to help children with disabilities develop to their fullest potential. The hearing aids which have been donated by the Embassy of China in Turkmenistan have been selected in close collaboration with the chief audiologist of the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry. Children with a specific hearing impairment which can be addressed with these hearing aids have been identified by health workers and ‘Yenme’.
This group of children with hearing aids will be monitored by trained specialists in health and education. Individual support programmes for each child will be developed to help contribute to their development and integration into everyday life with the help of modern assistive technologies.
“Today my grandson Velmyrad received a New Year gift that made me positive of his future and he can now start enjoying his childhood”, said the grandmother of four-year old Velmyrad from Dashoguz.
“Irrespective of our geographical belonging, we all share our common home, Earth, and the best we can all jointly do for the future is to invest into our chidren and youth”, said Ambassador of China in Turkmenistan handing over the aids to children and their families.
UNICEF continues to work both with the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry and the Ministry of Education of Turkmenistan to develop a system of support services for children with disabilities and their familes with focus on promoting universal hearing screening of newborns and multi-disciplinary services with the use of assistive technologies.
