along with three other NIH Institutes, will be
supporting a joint effort with the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) and Autism
Speaks, a private advocacy organization, to
investigate reports of elevated prevalence of autism
spectrum disorders ( ASD ) among children born to
Somali immigrants living in Minneapolis, Minn.
At the October 2010 meeting of the Interagency
Autism Coordinating Committee ( IACC ), Idil Abdull,
a Somali parent and founder of the Somali American
Autism Foundation, described the disproportionate
numbers of Somali-American children enrolled in
preschool ASD special education programs—up to seven
times higher than their non-Somali peers, according
to a 2009 report by the Minnesota Department of
Health. Committee members, which include NIH, CDC,
and Autism Speaks, responded immediately by
identifying ongoing research that may be expanded to
help answer why such a disparity appears to exist,
as well as to determine the service needs of
children with ASD in Minneapolis and their families.
"This shared effort demonstrates how members of the
IACC can respond quickly and cooperatively to an
issue brought to the Committee by the public. An
increased prevalence of ASD among this specific
Somali population would represent both a scientific
opportunity and an urgent public health need,"
stated Thomas R. Insel, M.D., NIMH Director and
chair of the IACC.
With plans to start in early 2011, the three
partnering organizations will provide support to the
Minnesota Department of Health to collect prevalence
data according to the CDC's established surveillance
methods, as used by the Autism and Developmental
Disabilities Monitoring ( ADDM ) Network.
The IACC is a Federal advisory committee that
coordinates all efforts within the Department of
Health and Human Services concerning ASD. In
addition to NIMH, the NIH Institutes supporting this
research initiative are:
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child
Health & Human Development
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
National Institute on Minority Health and Health
Disparities
Source: Newswire,
