Egypt and Autism

Egypt is located in North Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza Strip. Genetic diseases in Egyptians have been known since the days of the pharaohs as recorded in the ancient history. Gene flow to Egyptian population occurred from Greco-Roman, Arab, Turkish, French, and English settlers. For reasons of custom, tradition, culture, and socioeconomic benefit, consanguineous marriages occur in approximately half, and first-cousin marriages occur in one third of Egyptians (Yamamah 2012). The population of the region is characterized by large family size, high maternal and paternal age, and a high level of inbreeding with consanguinity rates. Women are continuing to bear children until menopause increasing the predisposition to inherited disorders. Developing countries are facing an alarming gap between innovations in childhood learning and developmental disabilities (LDD) research and their delivery to communities. Important problems include illiteracy (especially among women), lack of job opportunities (especially for young people), and slow economic growth because of loss of traditional economies, low productivity, and lack of innovation and competitiveness. There is a critical gap in autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) research with respect to manifestations of the condition in developing countries. This gap is now attaining public health significance. On one hand, they prioritize the control and eradication of infectious diseases and reproductive maternal health. On the other hand, LDD research receives scant attention and almost no funding from donor agencies that specialize in addressing the problems of developing nations. While Egypt has shown considerable progress in the prevention and combating of infectious diseases, genetic disorders remain a major health problem. There are no comprehensive data on disabilities currently available. The importance of medical genetics in pediatric departments of Egyptian universities was well appreciated in the early 1960s at Cairo and Ain Shams Universities in Egypt. At 1966, Prof. Samia and her colleagues started the specialty of human genetics at the National Research Centre (NRC) followed by molecular genetics at 1985 (El Awady and his colleagues at the NRC). In 1967, medical genetics unit (Prof. Suzan Rushdy and her colleagues) was established at theMedical Research Institute in Alexandria. This was followed by the initiation of medical genetics units in other universities such as El-Mansoura (Prof. Mohamed Hafez). Mubarak City of Scientific Research encompasses centers for frontier sciences including genetic engineering and biotechnology. Human genetic courses are now introduced in the curriculum of medical students in most universities. Specialized postgraduate degrees in the field of medical human genetics are offered to graduates from medical schools in Egypt at Ain Shams and Alexandria Universities. Training programs given by specialized geneticists from different institutions are offered to physicians from the Ministry of Health and Population. On the other hand, Egypt has 19 medical schools; all of them have psychiatric departments, some of which are departments of neuropsychiatry. They have offered a master’s degree in psychiatry for the past 25 years and a doctorate for the past 20 years. In general, there are few psychiatrists specializing in childhood problems (Okasha 2004). Nowadays, there are psychiatrists and psychologists specializing in the mental health needs of people with mental retardation. This is the case in Egypt where people with