Starkey Hearing Foundation Hosts Landmark Hearing Healthcare Summit in Kenya

This inaugural gathering provides inspiration, collaboration and reconnection for hearing healthcare professionals serving individuals in the developing world using the WFA^® model

NAIROBI, Kenya, April 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Over 100 hearing healthcare professionals trained by Starkey Hearing Foundation's Institutes ranging from across Africa and the Philippines are returning to their home communities with added drive, empowerment and a united sense of purpose for their essential contribution in providing the gift of hearing following an impactful summit held in Nairobi, Kenya.

The three-day Starkey Hearing Foundation Champions Alumni Summit, held April 4 - 6, brought together global alumni from Starkey Hearing Institute's training programs from over the past decade. The inspirational event offered hearing healthcare professionals a chance to connect on hearing healthcare, the space to discuss challenges and explore practical solutions through shared experiences of their global peers, report on a decade of impact they've made in their community using the WFA^® model and share hundreds of stories about lives changed through better hearing and the opportunity it provides.

"What makes us different is we use the WFA^® model where we can serve patients even outside the clinic," said Muhammad Kyesirkidde, a Starkey Hearing Institute Zambia alumnus from Uganda. "We practice the WFA^® model in any environment, so the mindset and stigma about hearing aids and hearing care services [in my country] has really changed."

The Starkey Hearing Institute (SHI) is focused on empowering, educating and training individuals through the WFA^® model, a scalable solution for conducting community outreach and providing hearing healthcare around the world. SHI is a program of Starkey Hearing Foundation, the world's largest nonprofit dedicated to providing hearing healthcare services and hearing aids to those in need.

"We are incredibly proud of the Institute program and of the graduates who are Champions providing hearing healthcare that their communities would otherwise not have access to," said Richard S. Brown, President and Board Chair of Starkey Hearing Foundation. "We've seen time and time again how our WFA® model is impacting people, offering access and providing sustainable programming to communities. We are proud to watch SHI graduates transition to leaders in their communities, bringing much-needed sustainable support and caring to more of humanity."

The first Starkey Hearing Institute campus opened in Lusaka, Zambia in 2016. Students live onsite for 10 months, learning a diverse and expansive hearing healthcare curriculum, including the WFA^® model. To date, 123 people from 19 African countries have graduated from Starkey Hearing Institute Zambia, and 22 students are currently enrolled in this year's program.

In 2024, Starkey Hearing Foundation launched a partnership with the historic University of Santo Tomas in the Philippines to continue its training of the WFA® model around the world. 28 students from the Philippines graduated in the program's first year in 2024 and another 38 are currently in the training program. Starkey Hearing Institute Latin America will be open by the end of 2025, providing more global opportunity for individuals to become experts and professionals in hearing healthcare and offer this essential community-based service.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized that one of the greatest barriers to hearing healthcare is a shortage of trained professionals. In Africa alone, the number of people with hearing loss is expected to skyrocket from 136 million today to 337 million by 2050, making hearing healthcare accessibility critical for this growing need.

To learn more about Starkey Hearing Foundation and its Starkey Hearing Institute programs, please visit https://www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org/. 

About Starkey Hearing Foundation:
Starkey Hearing Foundation focuses on training, educating and the capacity building of the next generation of hearing healthcare professionals in the developing world, who then give the gift of hearing to people in need. Since being established by William F. Austin in 1984, Starkey Hearing Foundation has impacted more than 1.5 million people in over 100 countries with hearing healthcare and hearing aids. It is projected that Starkey Hearing Institute graduates are reaching thousands of people every year collectively, and that number will continue to grow worldwide as more individuals graduate the program.

Media Contact: Kevin Hurd
Phone Number: 612-351-8442
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://www.starkeyhearingfoundation.org/

SOURCE Starkey Hearing Foundation