Autism numbers rising in the Philippines

From the Manila Bulletin:

A leading expert in developmental disorders recently disclosed the rise in autism in the Philippines and asked the government to institute appropriate programs that will cater to autism patients.

Dr. Alexis Reyes, President of the Philippine Society for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics said there is no solid data on autism in the Philippines but global trend on the disease is increasing.

The expert cited that a few years ago, the ratio of autism in the US is one per 150 individuals. This year, he said, it has been projected that autism patients is one per 91 individuals.

He said if the basis will be the trend in the US, there are approximately 0.5 million Filipinos with this neuro-behavioral disorder. Out of the total, only two percent are able to access appropriate healthcare.

Statistics in the US also showed that in the 1960s, autism was 0.4 to 0.5 per 1,000 population. But it increased to 0.71 to 1.1 per 1,000 in 1990.

But experts remain clueless as the disease continues to escalate. “What bothers us is that we really don’t know why it is increasing…There is no single cure,” Reyes said during the conference announcing the first International Austism Conference in Asia that will be hosted by the Philippines in February next year. She said autism could be a result of a host of factors, including neurologic, metabolism, genetic, infectious, immunological, and environmental causes.

“They look normal but they have social deficit, language problems, and repetitive manners,” she said.

Reyes said the disease is costly to treat. Initial diagnosis could cost P7,000 while follow up consultations amount to as much as P116,000.

In a similar forum earlier, Dang Koe, Autism Society of the Philippines (ASP) president lamented the lack of schools targeted to the special needs of these children.

She noted that there are only 40 Developmental Pediatricians nationwide
and a huge bulk of them holds their clinics in Metro Manila.

“Private schools have a one-on-one class that is about P100,000. But in public schools, there are Special Education (SPED) classes there could be 60 students or more and the teacher is handling different levels of autism,” Koe said.