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This article describes the details of this partnership in otological surgery and hearing health, with an emphasis on creating in-country surgical simulation, training on newly acquired medical equipment and planning regarding the formulation of objectified metrics to gauge progress going forward.

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The aim of this study is to present my observation of the common ear, nose and throat conditions in geriatrics, i.e. in the old age patients. This is a retrospective study analysis of 417 geriatric patients that presented at the Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) clinic at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital between January 2006 and December 2010. The diagnosis in each patient was based on the history, clinical findings and investigations done on each patient at the time of presentation. The patients were aged between 65 and 93 years with a mean age of 74.6 years. The main presentation of these geriatric patients were otological conditions in 209 (50.1%), rhinological conditions in 118 (28.3%) and then pharyngolaryngological conditions in 90 (21.6%). Some of the common conditions include presbyacusis (16.7%), cerumen obturans (15.3%), allergic rhinitis (14.9%), pharyngolaryngitis (9.8%), rhinosinusitis (8.2%), foreign body in throat (7.0%) etc. With the current improvement in life style, the life expectancy is supposed to be increased. In effect the otolaryngologist is going to be affronted with these challenges.

Meningitis is one of the infective disorders which can complicate with hearing loss. This study evaluates the incidence of hearing loss in patients who had suffered from a bacterial meningitis infection. The aim of this study was to find out the incidence rate of hearing loss in patients after recovering from meningitis. Some patients who were admitted, diagnosed and managed as cases of bacterial meningitis from the medical and the children's wards of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital were recruited to participate in this study after they had been discharged. These patients underwent a hearing assessment using a pure tone audiometer. These patients who survived meningitis were aged between (8-62) years with a mean age of 32.1 years. Of the 58 patients evaluated 12 (20.7%) presented with a sensorineural hearing loss. 6.9% of the patients presented with a mild hearing loss, 8.7% with a moderate hearing loss, 1.7% with a severe hearing loss whereas the remaining 3.4% presented with a profound hearing loss. This study showed that patients who suffered from meningitis infection may develop hearing loss.