Neuropsychology of Children in Africa ― Perspectives on Risk and Resilience

?Increasingly, global humanitarian efforts are focusing on improving the lives of children. And among the developing world, the African nations are particularly affected by extreme weather conditions, devastating pandemics, and armed conflict. Neurocognitive science offers significant avenues toward bringing needed aid to the continent while creating a template for helping children worldwide. The studies in Neuropsychology of Children in Africa clearly illustrate how the brain develops and adjusts in the face of adversity. Contributors span assessment approaches and public health risk factors, and represent established topics and emerging lines of research, including biocultural constructs and genomic technologies. Together, these chapters argue for methodology that is culturally sensitive, scientifically rigorous, consistent, and sustainable. And although the focus is pediatric, the book takes a lifespan approach to prevention and intervention, modeling a universal framework for understanding neurocognitive development. Included in the coverage:Assessment of very young children in Africa in the context of HIV.Psychosocial aspects of malnutrition among African children.Assessment of neuropsychological outcomes in pediatric severe malaria.Neurodisability screening using the Ten Questions questionnaire.The neuropsychology of sickle cell disease in West African children.Computerized Cognitive Rehabilitation Therapy for African children. As a guide to current findings or a springboard for new studies, Neuropsychology of Children in Africa is a necessary reference for researchers, policymakers, and diverse professionals in global aid organizations, and across the discipline.

Michael J. Boivin is Associate Professor in the International Neurologic and Psychiatric Epidemiology Program at Michigan State University and an adjunct research investigator with the Neuropsychology Section at the University of Michigan. A former Fulbright research scholar to the DR Congo (1990-91) and Uganda (2003-04), he presently helps lead NIH-sponsored studies in Uganda pertaining to the neurocognitive effects of HIV subtype in children, the neurodevelopmental benefits of caregiver training to enrich the home environment of very young children with HIV, and factors affecting neurocognitive disability in rural Ugandan children affected by HIV. Over the past 20 years Dr. Boivin has pioneered the application of neuropsychological assessment to gauging the neurocognitive impact of public health risk factors and interventions in African children. Bruno Giordani is Professor in Psychiatry and Psychology and Director of the Neuropsychology Section and Alzheimer’s Disease Research Core at the University of Michigan. He is a licensed clinical psychologist and Fellow in Division 40, Clinical Neuropsychology, of the American Psychological Association. Most recently, Drs. Giordani and Boivin worked together in Uganda working with research personnel at Makerere University in order to develop the infrastructure and pilot data for the computerized cognitive rehabilitation of children surviving severe malaria and children with HIV.