Staff from the North-West University's (NWU's) campus in Mahikeng are among the first in South Africa to complete the World Health Organisation's (WHO) Caregiver Skills Training programme for autism and related disabilities. 

Most children with autism and other developmental disabilities live in low- and middle-income countries; however, disability-related services for these children and their families are often lacking.

To address this need, the WHO developed a Caregiver Skills Training programme (WHO CST) for caregivers of young children with developmental disabilities.

This programme is specifically designed with low-resource settings in mind and aims to train non-specialist facilitators from the community to deliver the intervention.

During the 12-week programme, facilitators meet weekly with a group of caregivers to talk about everyday strategies that will help promote the child's development. The programme also focuses on caregiver wellbeing and aims to reduce stigma, which is often associated with having a child with a disability.

The WHO CST programme is currently being field tested in more than 33 countries, including South Africa. The South African pilot project is a collaborative venture between the National Department of Social Development, the Centre for Autism Research in Africa at the University of Cape Town, and Autism South Africa.

The NWU's campus in Mahikeng proudly participates in this ground-breaking initiative, which is linked with the global commitment to creating a world in which all children can develop their full potential, and no child is left behind.

The Ipelegeng Child and Family Centre recently hosted two international CST trainers, Dr Laura Pacione (WHO, Canada) and Dr Pamela Dixon (Autism Speaks, USA). They trained a selected group of professionals to become the first WHO CST Master Trainers in South Africa.

The South African CST Master Trainers include representatives from the NWU, the University of the Free State, and the Department of Health of the North West and Free State respectively.

This committed group of stakeholders will work together to train facilitators and pilot test the WHO CST programme in different contexts.

The Faculty of Health Sciences also presented an autism awareness function for professionals and parents in the Mahikeng community. This is the third awareness event and will be an annual event on the calendar.

Meet the first WHO CST Master Trainers in South Africa. In front are Dr Laura Pacione (WHO, Canada), Dr Tumelo Leeuw (North West Department of Health), Dineo Mosiane (Autism South Africa), Dr Gloria Pila-Nemutandani (NWU, Mahikeng), Dr Pamela Dixon (Autism Speaks, USA), Dr Liezl Schlebusch (University of Cape Town), Dr Petro Erasmus (NWU Mahikeng), and Prof Petrus de Vries (University of Cape Town).

In the back are Malebo Mogapinyane Tolo (Mahikeng), Bronwyn Muteebezi (Free State Department of Health), Dr Dawid Griessel (University of the Free State), and Hanlie Degenaar (NWU Potchefstroom).