Foremost African financial institution, Guaranty Trust Bank plc, will hold
the 8th edition of its Annual Autism Conference on Tuesday, July 17 and
Wednesday July 18, 2018 at the MUSON Centre, Onikan, Lagos. Themed
“Raising a Child with Autism, the Role of Family and the Community” the
two-day conference is part of the Bank’s Annual Autism Program, which
brings together globally renowned medical specialists, parents,
caregivers, health practitioners and concerned members of the public to
share ideas on how to support children and adults living with Autism.
According to the World Health Organization, 1 in 160 children live with
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) worldwide. In Nigeria, the condition is
hardly diagnosed, rarely understood and children with ASD often suffer
stigmatization. In response to these challenges, GTBank launched the
Orange Ribbon Initiative to support children and adults living with Autism
and other developmental disabilities. Through this initiative, the Bank
has, over the last 7 years, offered more than 14,000 people training on
how to manage ASD, provided free one-on-one consultation services to over
3,200 children and led a sustained campaign to tackle the stigma facing
people living with Autism.
This year, the Bank’s Autism Programme will begin with the 2018 Autism
Conference which is free to attend and open to the general public. The
conference will also be streamed live on facebook.com/gtbank and people
across all social media platforms can also join the conversation by using
the hashtag #BeAVoice. Following the Autism conference will be free
one-on-one consultations for children with Autism and other developmental
challenges as well as counselling of their parents and guardians. There
will also be sessions for Speech Therapy, Physical Therapy, Behaviour
Analysis, Audiology, Clinical Psychology, Developmental Psychiatry,
Physiotherapy, and Occupational Therapy. These sessions will hold from
Thursday July 19 to Monday July 23, 2018 at Digital Village, Alausa,
Lagos.
Commenting on the 8th Annual Autism Awareness Conference, Mr Segun Agbaje,
the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Guaranty Trust Bank
plc, said; “Like every other child, children with Autism have big dreams
and amazing talents to contribute to our society, but they need all our
support to rise above their present difficulties. As an institution that
is passionate about helping young people achieve their dreams, we will
continue to lead initiatives and create programmes that ensure that every
child, regardless of their challenges, has all the support they need to
reach their full potential.
Guaranty Trust Bank plc is a Nigerian financial institutions that has
maintained a defined Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy since
its inception in 1990. The Bank actively supports numerous programmes
across Africa that positively affect Infant and Maternal Healthcare,
Education, the Art, Community Development and the Environment.