For the second time in the Republic of Macedonia, under the auspices of the wife of the President, Ms. Maja Ivanova, in the center of Skopje, the International Autism Day was marked. The goal is to improve the quality of life of people with autism, to have an early diagnosis, timely treatment, opportunity for education and proper health care.

”Through such an event, we want to stand before the challenge called autism. It is said that it is a silent disease, but from here we will send a message that we give our unconditional support for all those who deal with it. From here I want to express my unreserved support to parents of autism diagnosed children, I want to assure you that you are not alone, there is always a helping hand for you, it is worth to walk millions of steps and through activities and efforts to come to a child’s smile, to a happy glow in the eyes of a child with autism”, Ms. Ivanova said.

She added that autistic children have incredible talents worth trying to discover and help them develop in a direction that would make them be the best.

"I am glad that today we are all united at this event – both the associations dealing with this issue and the competent institutions and citizens, and I especially appreciate that the parents of autistic children are here with us as well. The more you know about it the quicker we adopt those persons who perceive the world a little bit differently", said the wife of the President.

The event, organized by the association "In my world" in cooperation with the Macedonian Autism Scientific Society, was filled with a rich music program and activities designed for children. This event launched the campaign under the slogan "One World for All", which will be implemented in the course of this month, with the aim of raising awareness on autism in Macedonia, an manners of its treatment.

In Macedonia there is no official registry of autistic persons, but according to the World Health Organization statistics there are 12.240 autistic persons. Autism is not an emotional illness, but a severe genetically based developmental disorder. Recent studies show that it is more frequent than the Down syndrome, cancer in children or deafness. It is more common in male than in female children (ratio: 1 female : 4 male).

Early diagnosis of autism is crucial. With modern knowledge, means and methods, autism can be detected as early as at the age of 18 months, thus creating a basis for intervention when the brain is still under formation. Early detection of autism is beneficial for autistic children.