1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Global Brain Health Act of 2017 . 2. Findings Congress finds the following: (1) The brain is the center of the human nervous system, exerting centralized control over all other organs of the body. (2) Abnormalities in sections of the brain—namely the corpus callosum (which facilitates communication between the two hemispheres of the brain), the amygdala (which affects emotion and social behavior) and the cerebellum (which is involved with motor activity, balance, and coordination)—usually occur during prenatal development. (3) Three main brain disorders are autism, hydrocephalus and Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. They impact people in both the developed and developing world, but weigh more heavily on sufferers in developing countries due to lack of effective health care, lack of access to health care or cultural influences that inhibit treatment of sufferers of one of these conditions. (4) Autism is a complex neurological disorder that affects an individual in the areas of social interaction and communication. Because it is a spectrum disorder, it affects each individual differently and to varying degrees of severity. People with autism process and respond to information in unique ways. In some cases, coexisting medical issues and aggressive or self-injurious behavior may be present. (5) The occurrence of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has increased during the past decade from an estimated one in 150 in 2000 to an estimated one in 68 in 2012, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in December 2016. CDC classified as suffering from ASD children whose behaviors were consistent with the DSM–IV–TR criteria for Autistic Disorder, Asperger Disorder, and Pervasive Developmental Disorder—Not Otherwise Specified (PDD–NOS). (6) The increased number of children diagnosed with autism is a growing and urgent concern for families, healthcare professionals, and educators, as the health and education systems struggle to respond to