A team of eight Cambridgeshire healthcare staff, including ENT doctors, audiologists and a paediatric nurse, visited Malawi in November to co-deliver ‘ear camps’ with their Malawi colleagues as part of an established health partnership that is having a positive impact on hundreds of people.
Last week they had the opportunity to share the success of the visit and the partnership work with donors, supporters and distinguished guests including Deputy Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire Caroline Bewes, and former Lord Mayor and Mayoress of London Sir Michael and Lady Sally Oliver, at a special event at Innovate Cambridge’s new community space, The Glasshouse.
Led by Cambridge Community Services paediatrician and Hear Glue Ear founder Dr Tamsin Holland Brown, and consultant ENT surgeon at Cambridge University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Miss Isobel Fitzgerald O’Connor, the Malawi Hearing Project is an initiative supported by Cambridge Global Health Partnerships (CGHP) that is improving access to ear and hearing care for children and their communities in Malawi.
Co-developed and delivered with audiologists and community NGOs in Malawi, the partnership supports the provision of affordable hearing equipment, creates training and teaching resources, and enables more children with hearing problems to be treated so they can access education and continue learning.
The Cambridgeshire team visited Malawi in November 2024 and worked alongside audiology colleagues from Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre and local NGOs to take ‘ear camps’ to rural communities who wouldn’t usually have access to healthcare. The aim was to evaluate the most practical and sustainable way of delivering remote ear and hearing care while assessing and treating as many patients as possible.
With a mobile hearing unit in tow, they drove long distances to visit three rural schools and a university, working in hot and noisy conditions to see more than 800 children and local community members in the space of a week. The demand was huge: one teacher cycled 11 of her pupils with suspected hearing loss 36km to have them assessed. Many others waited patiently in 28-degree temperatures to be seen.
“It was rewarding working in a team of other healthcare professionals and everyone pulling together, particularly in some challenging environments and with limited resources. It was also hugely enjoyable to work alongside the Blantyre team and learn from their expertise of healthcare in a different setting,” explains Charlotte Skipper, specialist audiologist at CUH, who joined the visit.
Dr Tamsin Holland Brown, who worked on the headset in partnership with Raspberry Pi, said: “The headset was initially designed to support NHS patients in an affordable way, so their development, speech, language and learning wasn’t interrupted while they waited for an operation or for their condition to clear up.
“Some hearing aids that use bone conduction technology cost thousands of pounds, but by working with Raspberry Pi, the headset now available costs nearer £50.”
As a result of the ear camps, many children with deafness received a simple bone conducting headset and microphone to help them hear.
“The knowledge sharing and understanding of how best to support school-aged children with the hearing-headsets helps children in UK as well as globally,” added Tamsin. “None of it would have come about if it hadn’t been for Raspberry Pi and other giants in the Cambridge ecosystem, including Babraham Research Campus, AstraZeneca Exchange, Health Innovation East, Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin universities, COSA, Judge Business School and Cambridge Lieutenancy to name a few.
“We are also grateful to Cambridge Innovate for hosting the space for an event to share our learning.”
link