Emmanuel Agbamu¹ , Kabeerat Arike Balogun², Mamat Jasseh³, Oluchukwu Vivian Igwebuike⁴, Odunayo Alice Amoye⁵, Aisha Hassan Ahmed⁶, Meskerm Girma Chernet⁷

Abstract

History of autism is plagued by misconceptions and distortions and it is mostly attributed to spiritual causes. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify studies of telehealth interventions in the management of autism in various countries, and related challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa. There were several obstacles in adopting multidisciplinary telehealth interventions (MTI) which include poor internet, epileptic power supply, cultural beliefs, and lack of political will. This commentary compiles historical misconceptions, MTI which could be scaled up to meet the health-care needs of autistic children in Sub-Saharan Africa and the challenges that follow. Furthermore, it presents some recommendations for integrating telemedicine into the healthcare system. This commentary advocates the need for incorporating telehealth in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) management to improve care accessibility in sub-Saharan Africa through a multidisciplinary telehealth approach involving health practitioners, caregivers, teachers, psychologists, behavioural therapists, policy-makers, information technology (IT) specialists, web and applications developers, and government officials. User-friendly, low-cost telehealth models such as Applied behavior analysis (ABA), Face your fears (FYF) model, Collaborative model for promoting competence and success (COMPASS), ImPACT program, Joint attention, symbolic play, engagement, and regulation (JASPER), and Early start Denver model (ESDM) improve health outcomes in various countries and may be reworked for implementation in Sub-Saharan Africa. Development of appropriate telehealth infrastructure, increasing education and training of healthcare professionals and patients, and the need for government support and funding would improve accessibility and practice of telehealth interventions.