In an op-ed posted on Yahoo! News, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius writes that the Obama administration has made autism research a national priority, adding $1 billion to the federal budget for autism research over the next 8 years. Her statement comes after the president announced $5 billion in federal funding for biomedical research.

Sebelius says autism has emerged as “an urgent public health challenge” with a growing prevalence rate that creates challenges for families, schools and health care providers. An excerpt:

… there has never been a comprehensive, well-funded effort across government to overcome autism – until now.

… Like public health challenges such as polio in the 1950s and HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, we must address the rising prevalence and complex needs of people with autism. We still have more questions than answers. But with additional funding and a new coordinated national strategy, we are working harder and more closely together to find those answers than ever before.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 11:18 am and is filed under autism, budget, NOT2BEMISSED, Obama administration, research funding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.