By Dickson Omobola
With one in 10 Nigerian children affected by various developmental disabilities, Bloom Buddy, in partnership with Autism Speaks and the Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders of the College of Medicine, at the University of Lagos, has developed NASQ web App tool for detecting autism spectrum disorder, ASD, among infants.
According to the developers, while the tool enables parents and caregivers to detect autism, which is one of the developmental disabilities, it would also act as a mechanism to encourage them to speak with a healthcare provider and explore support.
Both firms further disclosed that NASQ is a step towards the incorporation of neurological developmental screenings into regular health assessments for children under two, adding that it could potentially be a critical solution to address this gap in developmental healthcare provision.