Ghana’s government pledged stronger early diagnosis, inclusive education and disability data collection for people with autism, as GT Bank Ghana opened the fifth edition of its annual Autism Programme.
Yvonne Norman, Principal of the University of Ghana’s School of Social Work, delivered the message on behalf of the Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Dr Agnes Naa Momo Lartey, at the opening of the programme at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA). She described autism inclusion as a matter of national development rather than a health issue alone, and said government is building the capacity of frontline health workers, including community health nurses and midwives, to identify developmental conditions earlier and refer families to specialised services. She pointed to continued investment in inclusive education, assistive technologies and teacher support, and confirmed that the District Assemblies Common Fund allocation for persons with disabilities has risen from 3 to 5 percent. She called for closer public-private collaboration on disability data, arguing that “better data leads to better policies, better targeting, better outcomes.”
The five-day programme, running from 4 to 8 August under the theme “Acceptance in Action: From Family to Classroom to Workplace to Public Spaces,” offers free consultations, developmental assessments, lectures and caregiver training led by a multidisciplinary team of specialists from Ghana, Nigeria, Canada and the United States. GTBank Ghana Managing Director Thomas Attah John said the bank’s Orange Ribbon Initiative has supported autism advocacy in the country for 16 years.
Behaviour Analyst Lanre Duyile told the gathering that challenging behaviours in autistic children often signal unmet needs rather than deliberate misconduct, urging parents, teachers and employers to look for the cause behind a behaviour before responding to it. Autism Spectrum Disorder clinical specialist Dr Bernadette Kilo said acceptance within the family is what allows inclusion to take hold later in schools, workplaces and the wider community.
