People with albinism appeal for more funding

TANZANIA Albinism Society (TAS) has appealed to the government to allocate adequate fund to address skin cancer to people with albinism. TAS communication officer, Mr Josephat Tona, made the appeal in Dar es Salaam last week during an African forum to deliberate on the challenges facing people in Africa and come up with ways to address them. “Life expectancy of people with albinism is 45 and below, therefore education on how to protect our skins is necessary for us to live longer.

The astonished group of people with albinism

 

If we will not have better health, we will fail to contribute well to the country’s development,” he said. On the other hand, he said, since 2006 people with albinism have been living miserably following reports of inhuman deeds some people do to the group, forcing many children with albinism to drop out of school due to fear. Under the Same Sun Executive Director, Ms Vicky Ntetema, mentioned lack of national statistics of people with albinism, poor infrastructures to reach them especially those residing in remote areas, as some of the challenges facing her organization’s efforts to protect them.