The Western Cape will start rolling out a universal newborn hearing screening programme in three areas later this year.

The Western Cape Department of Health and Wellness has partnered with Hold My Hand on “Little Ears”, an early hearing detection and intervention programme that will initially be rolled out in George, Oudtshoorn and the Khayelitsha sub-district.

Implementation will continue across the respective sites early next year.

The programme comes against evidence of significant gaps in newborn hearing screening nationally.

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A 2026 policy brief by Hold My Hand and Change Ideas, developed with an Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Community of Practice, estimates that fewer than 10% of newborns in South Africa currently receive hearing screening. It says around 17 babies are born with permanent hearing loss each day, or more than 6,000 a

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