People with albinism offered free skin cancer screening
Jul 17, 2020
Even though sunscreens are cosmetics, people living with albinism strongly consider them as a medicine
People living with Albinism have re-echoed their call to the government to recognise sunscreens as a drug but not a cosmetic so that it can be included on the list of the essential drugs in the country.
Even though sunscreens are cosmetics, people living with albinism strongly consider them as a medicine because they cannot live without it, the same way HIV infected people cannot live without ARV's.
Jude Sebyanzi, one of the persons living with the genetic disorder is hopeful that once sunscreens are included on the list of the essential drugs, they will be able to freely access them from government hospitals saving them the burden of the high costs of these cosmetics with the cheapest going for 80,000 shillings.
They raised the concern during the free skin cancer screening which was offered to them by the medics at the Uganda Cancer Institute in Mulago.
The screening was spearheaded by Dr. Noleb Mugisha, the head of a comprehensive community cancer program.
He explained that persons living with albinism are at a high risk of developing skin cancer due to the lack of melanin, and that's why it is important to always check for cancer.