Multisectoral Framework for Responding to the Needs of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and their Families in Ethiopia: A Review with Implications for Policy

Multisectoral Framework for Responding to the Needs of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and their Families in Ethiopia: A Review with Implications for Policy | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Systematic Review Multisectoral Framework for Responding to the Needs of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and their Families in Ethiopia: A Review with Implications for Policy Munit Abdulreshid Abdullahi, Rosa Anna Hoekstra, Charlotte Hanlon This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9022371/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Background: The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund call for multisectoral action to ensure the inclusion and well-being of children with developmental disabilities globally. Ethiopia has made policy efforts to support optimisation of early childhood development, but children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) have additional, specific needs. This desk review and policy analysis aimed to identify challenges and opportunities for social inclusion of children with NDDs and their families in Ethiopia’s policy context. Methods: A systematic search and review was conducted of Ethiopian research studies and policy documents. Using Lund et al.’s model for social determinants of mental disorders in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals, a qualitative framework synthesis of the identified studies was conducted, followed by an analysis of policies. Results: The search identified 44 research studies (29 published and 15 theses) and 17 Ethiopian policy documents. The findings show that Ethiopian children with NDDs and their families experience intersecting challenges across four social determinant domains: economic, socio-cultural, neighbourhood, and demographic. Accessing services and ensuring social protection, inclusion, and safety of children with NDDs are prominent challenges fueled by stigma. Challenges are heightened for female caregivers, especially single mothers. Caregivers experience psychological distress, including suicidality. Spirituality and support from families, communities, and community-based organisations help cope. Formal support is scarce; the few identified interventions involve caregiver and healthcare worker training. The integration of services for children with NDDs into primary healthcare services is a potential strategy to increase access to services. Conclusion: Ethiopian policies offer opportunities by prioritising social welfare, equity, protection of vulnerable communities, and early childhood development. However, policies lack explicit recognition and measures for children with NDDs, presenting a major gap. Multisectoral efforts involving robust research, policy development and implementation are urgently needed. Health Policy Social Policy Neurodevelopmental disorders social determinants of health intersectionality socioeconomic factors social welfare access to health services special education mainstreaming education public policy Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files 2.AdditionalFilesMarch2026.docx Additional files Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9022371","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Systematic Review","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":600140223,"identity":"c27dc1c7-6118-4926-b888-0428df069025","order_by":0,"name":"Munit Abdulreshid 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Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and their Families in Ethiopia: A Review with Implications for Policy\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Neurodevelopmental disorders, social determinants of health, intersectionality, socioeconomic factors, social welfare, access to health services, special education, mainstreaming education, public policy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9022371/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9022371/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eBackground: The World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund call for multisectoral action to ensure the inclusion and well-being of children with developmental disabilities globally. Ethiopia has made policy efforts to support optimisation of early childhood development, but children with neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDDs) have additional, specific needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis desk review and policy analysis aimed to identify challenges and opportunities for social inclusion of children with NDDs and their families in Ethiopia’s policy context.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMethods: A systematic search and review was conducted of Ethiopian research studies and policy documents. Using Lund et al.’s model for social determinants of mental disorders in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals, a qualitative framework synthesis of the identified studies was conducted, followed by an analysis of policies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults: The search identified 44 research studies (29 published and 15 theses) and 17 Ethiopian policy documents. The findings show that Ethiopian children with NDDs and their families experience intersecting challenges across four social determinant domains: economic, socio-cultural, neighbourhood, and demographic. Accessing services and ensuring social protection, inclusion, and safety of children with NDDs are prominent challenges fueled by stigma. Challenges are heightened for female caregivers, especially single mothers. Caregivers experience psychological distress, including suicidality. Spirituality and support from families, communities, and community-based organisations help cope. Formal support is scarce; the few identified interventions involve caregiver and healthcare worker training. The integration of services for children with NDDs into primary healthcare services is a potential strategy to increase access to services.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eConclusion: Ethiopian policies offer opportunities by prioritising social welfare, equity, protection of vulnerable communities, and early childhood development. However, policies lack explicit recognition and measures for children with NDDs, presenting a major gap. Multisectoral efforts involving robust research, policy development and implementation are urgently needed.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Multisectoral Framework for Responding to the Needs of Children with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and their Families in Ethiopia: A Review with Implications for Policy","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-03-04 07:09:10","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9022371/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"bf70cf8f-14c6-4061-9eac-69908b3cc06f","owner":[],"postedDate":"March 4th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":63863462,"name":"Health Policy"},{"id":63863463,"name":"Social Policy"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-04T07:09:10+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-03-04 07:09:10","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9022371","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9022371","identity":"rs-9022371","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}