Mental health NGO wins UK govt grant to develop model for autism care

A NON-GOVERNMENTAL organisation Sangath based in Goa and New Delhi has won a grant in partnership with the University of Manchester, UK to design and evaluate a detection care model for young children with autism and their families in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal. The aim is to evaluate a flexible pathway that would support families of young children with autism with detection and intervention services through a programme of research, training and capacity building across India, Sri Lanka and Nepal using healthcare workers.
The grant has been awarded the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) using UK aid from the UK government, which supports global health research.
Dr Gauri Divan, co-principal investigator from Sangath stated “This is the result of over 10 years of systematic research in community care for autism which we have been doing in Sangath. We know that families continue to struggle to receive a diagnosis and then find proven affordable care. We hope to use our experience working with ASHA workers in Delhi, who have been delivering the PASS Plus intervention in the homes of families. This experience has given us confidence that we can implement this across dricts in South Asia…”