Brazil offering early stimulation to children with neuropsychomotor conditions
Physical therapist Cynthia Ximenes, of the Association for the Assistance to Disabled Children helps babies with microcephaly and provides mothers with guidance on how to perform exercises at home to improve the development of children.
In compliance with a ruling by the Ministry of Health, early stimulation for children's neuropsychomotor development was included today (Apr. 11) among the procedures to be provided by the Unified Public Health Care System, known as SUS.
The decision is based on the National Plan for Combating Microcephaly and the Guidelines for Early Stimulation, drafted by basic and specialized care professionals.
The procedure will benefit children up to three years old diagnosed with minor, moderate, severe mental illnesses; autism; Rett syndrome, Asperger syndrome; and cerebral palsy; among other conditions.
The number of cases of neurological malformation has increased in Brazil since last year, most notably in Pernambuco, the state with the largest number of reported microcephaly cases—1,846, of which 490 have been ruled out, according to the latest report released by the State Health Care Secretariat.
Scientists believe the connection between microcephaly and the Zika virus in pregnant women is being made ever clearer by new evidence. Other issues related to babies' growing nervous system are being studied, and scientists now talk about what they describe as a congenital syndrome caused by the Zika virus, one of the viruses transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
Translated by Fabrício Ferreira
Fonte: Brazil offering early stimulation to children with neuropsychomotor conditions
