This review aimed to present some of the leading causes of ear disease and hearing loss globally, and to identify their impact at both an individual and societal level.

Our findings suggest that screening refugee children for common treatable conditions, even if they are asymptomatic, is paramount. In addition to infectious diseases screening, nutritional deficiencies should routinely be screened for.

Vitamin D deficiency and tuberculosis (TB) are associated in adults, but data in children are scarce. We screened refugee children routinely for vitamin D status and TB. Vitamin D values were significantly lower in latent TB (n = 81) and TB infection (n = 11) than in children without TB (n = 236). We conclude that refugee children with TB have reduced vitamin D levels.