PHPHI Training Workshop Newsletter, October 12th, 2025.
I am writing to update you about the development and progress of the Public Health Planning for Hearing Impairment (PHPHI) Training Workshop in 2025 and 2026.
Professor GVS Murthy, President of the PRASHO Foundation and Director of the PHPHI Training Workshop in Hyderabad, India has invited me in 2025 to become an Honorary Consultant in Public Hearing Health with PRASHO. I have been working with Professor Murthy since 2010 to run the PHPHI Training Workshop annually in Hyderabad.
Professor Murthy founded PRASHO in 2023. PRASHO means Pragyaan Sustainable Health Outcomes. I am planning to run the PHPHI Training Workshop in Hyderabad in 2026.
I would like to give Training Workshop Directors the choice of having either a 5-day or a 3-day Workshop. The PHPHI workshop has even been held for 2 days alongside an international conference.
I think the 3-day Workshop may be more feasible for busy professionals to attend and requires less funding to run.
I was invited to run a 3-day Training Workshop in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on April 14th-16th 2025.
The Course Director was Dr Byambasuren Luvsandagva, General Director of the First Central Hospital of Mongolia, and the assistant Director was Dr Gan-Erdene Narantsolmon, an Otolaryngologist at the First Central Hospital.
We held the 3-day PHPHI Training Workshop for 20 local participants.
I had previously met Dr Gan when he was a participant at the PHPHI course in Seoul in 2023.
We had real-time translation between Mongolian and English and the groups produced four excellent project proposals.
I visited a National Park after the workshop and encountered some of the wildlife (see photo at end).
I ran a hybrid five-day Training Workshop with Dr Alfred Mwamba, Director of the Starkey Hearing Institute (SHI), in Lusaka Zambia from August 25th to 29th, 2025.
The workshop was about the Public Health Approach for District Level Ear and Hearing Health (PHADLEHH).
The Training Workshop was held at the Starkey Hearing Institute for 24 trainee Hearing Aid Specialists.
The Institute will become the Starkey Hearing College in 2026, and able to award Diplomas.
The Diploma will incorporate the PHPHI Training Workshop, and a fund from the Starkey Hearing Foundation will be set up to enable selected group project proposals to be implemented.
I will be going to Seoul in November this year to run a 2-day PHPHI training workshop at Seoul National University (SNU). The director of the Training Workshop is Professor Moo Kyun Park, at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at SNU. The workshop will be held just before the 10th Asia-Pacific Pediatric Otolaryngology Society Conference (APPOS 2025 Seoul). I will give a presentation at the conference on PHPHI in children which is part of a special session on PHPHI.
I will go on to Manila to run a 3-day PHPHI Training Workshop hosted by Professor Norberto Martinez the Director of the PHPHI Training Workshop at Santo Tomas University.
I also plan to go to Nanjing, China on November 15th to 19th during this trip at the invitation of Prof Xingkuan Bu. He has invited me to give a keynote presentation on Public Health Planning for Older people with Hearing Impairment at a special symposium at Jiangsu Province Hospital, affiliated with Nanjing Medical University.
I would like to let you know about the World Health Assembly Resolution, ratified this year, called “Primary prevention and integrated care for sensory impairments including vision impairment and hearing loss, across the life course” ( https://apps.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/WHA78/A78_R7-en.pdf )
The latest change to some Training Workshops is to include vision impairment as well as hearing impairment. The new workshop is called Public Health Planning for Hearing and Vision Impairment (PHPHVI).
The inclusion of vision impairment in the training workshops comes at an appropriate time because of the recognition by the WHO of the need to combine the two sensory impairments in programme development.
The PHPHI Training Workshop on public health planning applies equally to vision loss and hearing loss.
The inclusion of vision impairment in the Training Workshop may increase the opportunities for funding.
Dr Lucia Nkomo, director of the Harare, Zimbabwe, Training Workshop suggested the idea of including vision loss at the PHPHI workshop in 2024. I thought including vision loss was a very good idea.
We are planning to run a PHPHVI Training Workshop again in Harare on February 9th to 13th 2026.
I am presently in process of developing a three-day PHPHVI Training Workshop in Ila Orangun, Osun State, Nigeria on March 9th to 11th, 2026. The Training Workshop Director is Professor Akeem Lasisi, Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Health Sciences, in Ila Orangun. .
Dr Barnabas Vangerwua, is the assistant Training Workshop Director. Barnabas is Head of the Department of Audiology at the Federal University.
Serah Ndegwa, Lecturer in Audiology at the University of Nairobi and Director of the PHPHI Training Workshop is planning to hold a 3-day PHPHVI Training Workshop in Nairobi on March 23rd to 25th 2026 .
Serah Ndegwa is in process of launching a new Bachelor’s Degree Course in Audiology, Speech and Language Pathology (BSc ASLP). The PHPHI Training Workshop will be incorporated into the curriculum of this Degree Course in 2026.
Dr Theodore Randrianarisoa, Consultant Audiologist and Otologist at SALFA Hospital in Antananarivo, Madagascar and Director of the PHPHI Training Workshop would also like to include vision loss in a 3 day PHPHVI training Workshop on March 30th to April 1st, 2026.
Dr Nadeem Mukhtar, Consultant Audiologist and Cochlear Implant Specialist in Lahore, Pakistan is the Director of the PHPHI Training Workshop in Lahore. Dr Fatima Mukhtar, Professor in the Department of Community Medicine, Al-Aleem Medical College, Lahore is the assistant director. They would like to hold a PHPHVI Training Workshop in Lahore in 2026 on a date to be decided.
Dr Aliya Qadir Khan, Public Health Specialist and Head of research and Development at Pakistan Institute of Rehabilitation Sciences (PIRS) in Islamabad, is Director of the PHPHI Training Workshop in Islamabad. Dr Aliya is also interested in holding a PHPHVI Training Workshop in 2026.
I am inviting members of the International Faculty of PHPHI to join the collaboration. The international faculty includes :-
Dr Shelly Chadha, Unit head a.i., Sensory functions, Disability and Rehabilitation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr Carolina Der, Technical Officer Ear and Hearing Care Programme, Sensory Functions, Disability and Rehabilitation, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Kaitesi Batamuliza Mukara, Consultant supporting Ear and Hearing care and Eye care, WHO Regional Office for Africa, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.
Dr John Newall, Senior Lecturer, Course Director of the Master of Clinical Audiology Programme, Department of Linguistics, Australian Hearing Hub, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia.
Dr Chung-Hyeon Oh, ENT specialist, formerly based at CWM hospital, Suva, Fiji.
Dr Diego Santana, CBM Senior Ear and Hearing Care CBID Advisor, Spain.
Dr Robin Youngs, Hon Associate Professor, International Centre for Evidence in Disability, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK.
This year I have invited three new members to join the International Faculty:
Dr Olusegun Adediran, Ophthalmologist, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria.
Elizabeth Fons Project Manager, Reimbursement & Health Technology Assessment, MED-EL Electronics, Innsbruck, Austria.
Dr Barnabas Bem Vangerwua, Lecturer and Head of Audiology Department, Federal University of Health Sciences, Ila-Orangun, Osun State, Nigeria.
The Training Workshop includes local faculty who may vary from year to year.
Thank you for taking time to read this newsletter.
Best regards,
Andrew
