- Title
- Centring equity in the response to chronic suppurative otitis media
- Creator
- Kong, Kelvin M.; McMahon, Catherine M.
- Relation
- Lancet Vol. 403, Issue 10441, p. 2269-2272
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)00698-6
- Publisher
- The Lancet Publishing Group
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2024
- Description
- Chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM) remains a major public health challenge, particularly in Indigenous populations.1 Mahmood F Bhutta and colleagues' Lancet Seminar on CSOM provides insight on a leading global cause of preventable hearing loss in children and adults, associated with socioeconomic deprivation.2 The consequences of untreated CSOM extend beyond physical health, affecting many forms of development and leading to lost socioeconomic and life opportunities. For example, children are more likely to experience poor school performance and attendance due to infection and associated hearing loss, which can lead to academic underachievement and increased risk of conduct or learning disorders,3 perpetuating a cycle of disadvantage and marginalisation. Bhutta and colleagues' Seminar notes that CSOM may present in younger children with behaviour or learning problems, although not all such problems are due to CSOM. Behavioural issues are profoundly impacted by hearing loss,4 making intervention and strategies to alleviate them more challenging. Untreated CSOM also needs to be considered from a cultural perspective; not being able to immerse in culture, language, dance, and song-lines further alienates from identity and sovereignty. The demonstrated effects of untreated CSOM were also underscored in a 2022 coronial inquest stemming from the death of an Aboriginal man in custody in New South Wales, Australia, in 2018.5 The trajectory of illness in this case and its enduring repercussions, including missed opportunities throughout life, incarceration, societal discord, and ultimately early demise from a cerebral abscess, served as a stark warning of the devastation wrought by CSOM.5 The individual's journey was marked by persistent struggles with CSOM, which was directly associated with his death, yet even his final complaints were misinterpreted as indicators of mental health problems.
- Subject
- chronic suppurative otitis media (CSOM); public health; hearing loss; behavioural issues
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1505164
- Identifier
- uon:55641
- Identifier
- ISSN:0140-6736
- Language
- eng
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