SPARK (SuPporting African communities to increase the Resilience and mental health of Kids with developmental disorders and their caregivers) project held its 2nd annual meeting here in Addis Ababa from 20th -23rd February 2023.

The four-year project, which was launched in 2020, is a collaboration between King’s College London, and Oxford University in the UK, CDT-Africa Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) and Aga Khan University in Kenya and the World Health Organization (WHO) and funded through the NIHR Research and Innovation for Global Health Transformation (RIGHT) scheme. Families with children with developmental disorders (including autism and intellectual disability) from low income countries experience severe challenges and most families receive no formal support.

The project aims to conduct a cluster randomised controlled trial of a co-developed integrated community-based care model for children with developmental delay that promotes identification and referral of children with developmental delay, community-based support and inclusion. “Families who have children with developmental disorders experience severe challenges, including social isolation, stigma and poverty.

SPARK allows us to work with families, policy-makers and advocates to conduct high-quality research generating evidence on how to implement a sustainable model of care for these families in a context of high need and extremely limited resources,” said Dr. Rosa Hoekstra, co-principal investigator of SPARK about the impact of the project. There is vast unmet need of families with a child with developmental disorders in Ethiopia – the project allows a chance to make a difference with high-quality research on what works to improve lives, Professor Charlotte Hanlon, SPARK co-investigator and in-country PI (Ethiopia) said. During the meeting, each country team presented and discussed the implementation progress. The meeting was followed by a training workshop on Clinical Trials for Complex Intervention.