Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Pakistan and Autism

Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders

  • 1088 Accesses

Pakistan is situated in South Asia and is the sixth most populous country in the world with population of about 180 million with almost 45 % below age 18. The child and adolescent psychiatry field, including services for children and families with autism and developmental disabilities, are minimal in Pakistan. There are only handful of child psychiatrists and very few child psychiatry departments in the country. The major general psychiatry departments are in major cities of Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, Multan, Peshawar, and Quetta, to name a few. There is no subspecialty fellowship in child psychiatry or developmental disabilities in the country. There is only one inpatient child and adolescent psychiatry unit in Pakistan, established in 2012, at King Edward Medical University in Lahore (Imran and Azeem 2014).

The current prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in Pakistan is unknown. In Pakistan, various health professionals, including child psychiatrists,...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References and Reading

  • Imran, N., & Azeem, M. W. (2014). Child psychiatry in Pakistan. AACAP News, 45(1), 5–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Imran, N., Chaudry, M. R., Azeem, M. W., Bhatti, M. R., Choudhary, Z. I., & Cheema, M. A. (2011). A survey of autism knowledge and attitudes among the healthcare professionals in Lahore, Pakistan. BMC Pediatrics, 11, 107.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rahbar, M. H., Ibrahim, K., & Assassi, P. (2011). Knowledge and attitude of general practitioners regarding autism in Karachi, Pakistan. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 41(4), 465–474.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Sidra Medical and Research Center, Doha, Qatar

    Muhammad Waqar Azeem

  2. Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, 230 South Fronatge Rd., New Haven, CT, 06457, USA

    Muhammad Waqar Azeem

  3. Child and Family Psychiatry Department, King Edward Medical University/Mayo Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan

    Nazish Imran

Authors
  1. Muhammad Waqar Azeem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Nazish Imran
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Muhammad Waqar Azeem .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Fred R. Volkmar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Azeem, M.W., Imran, N. (2016). Pakistan and Autism. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102029-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102029-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6435-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Pakistan and Autism
    Published:
    29 February 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102029-2

  2. Original

    Pakistan and Autism
    Published:
    08 March 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102029-1

Search

Navigation