Govt, group partner against childhood neuropsychiatric disorders

The Federal Neuro Psychiatric Hospital, Oshodi Annexe, Lagos; and a non-governmental organisation, the Childhood Neuropsychiatric Disorders Initiative, have come together to tackle childhood neuropsychiatric disorders by organising a one-week workshop.

The workshop coordinator, Dr. Masheedat Bello-Mojeed, said the training, which started on Monday, was meant for primary health care workers, to equip them to diagnose childhood neuropsychiatric disorders early, and to enable early interventions.

In an interview with our correspondent, the Head of Child and Adolescent Centre of the hospital, Dr. Oluyemi Ogun, said the primary objective of the workshop was to train primary health care workers on handling the growing challenge of childhood neuro-developmental disorders.

“There are just about 150 neuropsychiatrists all over the country, and Lagos-based federal hospital is the largest centre. When patients troop here on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you will notice that there are few personnel to attend to them.

“So, this training is for primary health care workers and it dwells on early detection and early interventions in childhood neuro-developmental disorders. It will help in reaching out to the grass roots communities, thereby stemming the tide of such disorders,” she said.

 In his own remarks, the chairman of CNDI and consultant psychiatrist, Dr. Muideen Bakare, noted that after the workshop, health workers were expected to go back to their communities, interview mothers, and identify children with the disorders for timely intervention.

Bakare said, “We are essentially building capacity for resource persons to handle the challenge of neuro-developmental disorders. They are to look out for children who are not meeting up with the normal level of development.

“Some of the symptoms to watch out for include delay in speech, hearing problems, inability of a three-month-old baby to control the neck and inability to start crawling in six months.

Bakare said the workshop was also supported by the Canadian government through a group known as the Grand Challenges, Canada.

He added that the most vulnerable babies were those who underwent birth trauma through the use of instruments in their delivery, and those whose mothers were malnourished during pregnancy.

He said, however, that some developmental disorders could be hereditary.

One of the lecturers, a mental health advisor with CBM International, Dr. Emeka Nwefoh, said children under age 15, who constitute 45 per cent of Nigeria’s population, are mostly hit by these neuro-developmental disorders.