Calls for more suport for people with albinism

PIC: Kenyan MP Isaac Mwaura (right) interacts with a colleague during a function organised for the albinism community at Makerere  University. (Credit: Petride Mudoola)

LEGISLATION

KAMPALA - Government has been asked to support the albinism society in curbing the increased deaths of people living with albinism as a result of skin cancer.

Kenya's first Member of Parliament living with albinism, Isaac Mwaura, said the skins for people with albinism are vulnerable to sunburn.

"Skin cancer is high among people living with albinism because they don't have pigment meant to protect their skin from sun damage," he said in Kampala recently.

Mwaura was attending a function organised  for the albinism  community at Makerere  University.

People with albinism completely or partially lack melanin, with evidence of pale or ash-grey eyes, limited hair and skin color.

"People with albinism lack pigment, leaving their skin vulnerable to sunburn and skin cancers associated with vision problems," said MP Mwaura.

"But the high cost of acquiring sunscreen lotions make it hard for the ordinary people to afford them."

Currently, a tube of sunscreen lotion lasting a month costs between shs300,000 and 350,000.

The price depends on where you buy it.

Because of the high cost, for long, people with albinism depended on donations to access the products they needed for their skin.

Mwaura said this vulnerable group was forced to do without the vital lotions, exposing them to the risk of getting skin cancer.

As in Kenya, Mwaura recommended that Uganda's Parliament creates a fund to cater for sunscreen lotions, eye care and cancer treatment to reduce the rising number of people with albinism getting cancer.

"These products are crucial because people with albinism are susceptible to skin cancer caused by ultra violet rays. It is my hope that this programme will help to ensure that these people don't suffer from skin cancer," he said.

Jude Ssebyazi, the executive director of Uganda Albinism Society, called for the amendment to the current cancer policy which Government is championing to fight skin cancer.

"The cancer policy is discriminatory to people living with albinism because it does not mention the cancers that attack us. As a result, many of our colleagues die miserably since there are no dermatologists attached to government health facilities," he said.

Ssebyazi added that the policy does not provide for procurement of sunscreen as a drug but, rather, a cosmetic yet that lotion is applied in form of creams to prevent direct sun from penetrating their skins.

He said the sunscreen is expensive, scarce and requires importation.

Products that are locally produced under a pilot project need more research to go through the scientific rigor and certification to make them available and affordable, Ssebyazi explained.

One in 15,000 Sub-Saharan Africans are estimated to be living with albinism.