Women in Neuroscience outreach continues

By ADMIN

Women in Neuroscience, Nigeria continues her outreach with the theme, Dietary intervention in autism management. The outreach has included several visits and talks in a local church, a primary health care center (for pregnant women and nursing mothers) and career talk at a girls high school in Port Harcourt. Next week, we are going to be in two universities in the Port Harcourt area as well!

Many African children with autism are hidden away at home — sometimes tied up, almost always undiagnosed. Efforts to bring the condition into the open are only just beginning.

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Writing for Spectrumnews,org, Nicholette Zeliad has this to say “Most Africans are largely unaware of autism, despite its prevalence; to be fair, child mortality and malnutrition are more urgent concerns for most people. In surveys conducted in Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Ethiopia, healthcare workers and families frequently attribute its features to a curse (brought on by a taboo act such as cheating on a spouse) or to being possessed by an evil spirit.”

Realities like what Nicholette has described above makes our work important and urgent. Of course that implies that raising awareness about autism as a first and logical step, then introducing proper diet as a way of managing autism in African and particularly Nigerian children.

Join us next week at the University of Port Harcourt, Choba on Monday and at the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education on Saturday.

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