Doctors and child development specialists on Tuesday asked the government to make autism rating scale and other possible instruments available in Bangladesh to facilitate detection of the impairment among children.
They said that early detection of the syndrome would help develop the affected children in improving their communication skills and socialisation.
Speaking at the concluding session of the two-day conference on 'Autism Spectrum Disorders and Development Disabilities in Bangladesh and South Asia' at a city hotel, they requested government functionaries and the policy makers to consult foreign organisations to make the tools available in the country as the families having autistic children cannot afford them.
Naila Zaman Khan, professor of child development and neurology unit at Bangladesh Institute of Child Health of Dhaka Shishu Hospital said that by accurately detecting autism spectrum the tools would help develop the affected children better socialise.
She said that it would also help develop communication skill and solve the problem of behaviour among autistic children.
She said that protected by copy rights the tools are not affordable in Bangladesh and other developing countries.
Naila said that although child mortality declined in last 20 years the number of children with disabilities increased.
Quoting a survey done between 2008 and 2009, she said that 3.5 per 1,000 children in Malibag in the city alone had symptoms of autism.
She, however, said that another survey done among 4,000 children in Kishoreganj in 2005 showed none of them had autism.
'From this, we cannot come to a conclusion that the city children are more vulnerable to autism than those in the rural areas,' Naila said.
The chairperson of the National Advisory Committee on autism and prime minister Sheikh Hasina's daughter Saima Hossain in her closing remarks asked the countries in South Asia to work together to bring smile to the families having disabled and autistic children.
She said that participation of political personalities and global experts with the conference on autisms in Dhaka only indicated their awareness about this global crisis.
The conference concluded with the World Health Organisation pledging to support Bangladesh in autism care.
Representatives from the regional countries, including Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand spoke at the concluding session.
They all lent their support to the 'Dhaka Declaration' adopted at the inaugural session of the conference on Monday.
Syed Modasser Ali, prime minister's adviser and Enamul Huq Mostafa Shaheed, social welfare minister also spoke at the concluding session.
Source : New Age
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