China moves to tackle autism with first study of prevalence

At 14, Ma Baiqi is the type of quiet, sensitive child you just want to hug, and keep hugging.

He has a mischievous, dimpled grin and lights up on praise, nodding his head in victory any time he's given a compliment. In the face of criticism or anger, he sinks like a hurt puppy: head hung low, mouth pursed, his eyes often dampened by tears. Given half a chance, he'd spend a whole day outside his group home in Beijing blowing the heads off dandelions and watching the seeds float away on the wind.

Ma is one of the untold millions on the mainland affected by autism, the pervasive developmental disorder marked by delays in communication, difficulties in processing sensory information, and an absolute and rigid reliance on routine and predictability. While health-care providers and scientists around the world claim the global prevalence of autism has exploded in the past few decades, China has remained an enigma, with no nationwide data or reliable surveys to determine the prevalence of the disorder in the world's most populous country.

That will soon change, as Fudan Children's Hospital in Shanghai, in conjunction with the national health authorities, has embarked on an ambitious, three-year, 32-million-yuan (HK$39.5 million) project to determine the prevalence of autism in China and charter new protocols for diagnoses and treatment.

"The goal is in the next three years to not only train core groups of individuals with a high level of skills in terms of diagnosis and intervention, but also to deliver a public health statistic that would help guide them (the central government) in development and implementation of social policies," said Dr Andy Shih, the vice-president of scientific affairs at Autism Speaks, a US-based advocacy group that is providing advice on the project.

"As part of this overall growth in autism research in China, this reflects the overall interest of the government agency, in terms of autism as a health priority (and) a scientific priority."