Reaching out to the more distant communities, a convoy was sent to Upper Egypt's Assyut to help raise awareness among families in regard to the early detection of hearing loss. The convoy, organised by the Faculty of Medicine in Assiut, comes within a chain of others conducted in cooperation with the private sector's Cochlear Implants for Hearing Loss (MEDEL) aiming to increase awareness in less economically developed governorates in Egypt, and donate cochlear implants for those in need. Assyut is one of the biggest governorates in the country, with a population exceeding 400,000. The remote areas suffer from limited access to health services. The hearing screening during the convoy was conducted to 70 children, with nine being passed on to audiologists to identify further needs. The convoy stressed that the partners involved would fully sponsor the surgeries and rehabilitation processes of children needing the cochlear implants. According to the Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, it is estimated that around 4.5 million people in Egypt (around 5% of the population) are living with partial or complete hearing loss. Children make up around 130,000 of these estimates. The cochlear implant procedure is considered most effective when performed between the ages of one and five. Hearing impairment in children affects their skills of speaking, engaging with society and achieving academically, and the ripple effect resonates in the child's family and the society at large immensely. Most of hearing impairment cases are in poor governorates.
