Promoting autism awareness in Nigeria

Staff and students at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Dr Ani helped to establish the postgraduate training programme in Child and Adolescent Mental Health now run by the Centre.
Staff and students at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Dr Ani (centre) helped to establish the postgraduate training programme in Child and Adolescent Mental Health now run by the Centre. Professor Olayinka Omigbodun, Head of Psychiatry at the University of Ibadan and Director of the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, is pictured centre-right. 

Dr Cornelius Ani, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer at the Department’s Centre for Psychiatry, recently visited Nigeria to promote autism awareness as part of World Autism Day 2019.

He took part in a press conference and spoke at a workshop, both of which were covered by national media in Nigeria, including the front page of Nigeria Guardian Newspaper. The workshop covered the aetiology of autism, the development of services for people with autism in Africa and the use of assistive technologies to support people affected by autism.

Staff and students of the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health at University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Staff and students at the Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Dr Ani is pictured fourth from the left, bottom row.

Dr Ani, who is originally from Nigeria, has been supporting the development of Child and Adolescent Mental Health training and services in the country since 2011. This includes building the first postgraduate training programme in Child and Adolescent Mental Health in West Africa. The programme has already produced 72 graduates from 9 different African countries.

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