Only one out of ten autistic children can receive rehabilitation services in the public centers of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region IKR.
There are only six autism rehabilitation centers in the IKR, each of which accommodates between 15 and 20 children, but with over 4,000 children in need.
Kamal Jabari, the head of the Autism Association in Kurdistan, informed (KirkukNow), that the government centers can only accommodate 10 percent of children with autism. “This is very small compared to the total cases of autistic children."
The Kurdistan Regional Government KRG’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has registered over 4,000 autistic children in the IKR, and this number continues to increase according to official statistics obtained by (KirkukNow).
Arian Ahmed, the ministry’s spokesman said the six centers in the IKR are located in the cities of Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Dohuk, Halabja, Darbandikhan, and Koya, and two others to be opened in the districts of Akre (Akre) and Kifri.
People with autism receive daily rehabilitation sessions at government centers free of charge, aimed at developing their social skills. There are also several private centers.
The Iraqi Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs has monitored an increase in cases of autism among children in recent years with a small number of centers dedicated to rehabilitating and treating this segment, which prompted it to submit a proposal to UNICEF to give a hand to female breadwinners who take care of autistic kids.
A study by the University of Cambridge showed autism is spreading in a large proportion in Iraq compared to the years preceding the 2003 war, with 75 cases among each 10,000 children.
Paintings drawn by autistic children, Sulaymaniyah, 2024. Facebook account of Sulaymaniyah Center for Rehabilitation of Autistic Children
The head of the Autism Association says, “The conditions of families who have autistic children are too miserable. Rehabilitation services for autistic children in private centers are too expensive, costing $300 to $1,200 monthly which has to be regulated by the ministry.”
Only 11 percent of autistic children receive monthly salaries of 150 thousand dinars IQD (USD100), and registration procedures for autistic people in the ministry have been suspended since 2012, so they are not paid salaries, according to statistics and information obtained by (KirkukNow) from the Autism Association.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs says that their follow-ups indicate that excessive use of smart devices such as smartphones and tablets at a very early age, as well as environmental pollution and genetic factors, are the most prominent causes of the increase in autism cases among children.
Autism spectrum disorder/condition (ASD/ASC) is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact with others, communicate, learn, and behave, says the National Institute of Mental Health NIMH.
This material was produced as part of Expanding the Role of Women in Covering Environmental Issues program, implemented by the (KirkukNow) with support and funding from the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.
