Event focuses on skin cancer prevention, violence against those with albinism

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Albinism is a rare genetic disorder and a skin cancer risk to those who have it, but in certain parts of the world it can lead to ritualistic murder, according to a commemoration of International Albinism Awareness Day at the World College of Dermatology.

“There are very simple measures that can relieve the lot of patients with albinism in many parts of the world through cancer prevention. ... They are sun protection, through clothing and through using appropriate sunscreens; early surveyance to identify and treat early skin cancers; and in advanced skin cancers, facilitate access to good and accurate surgical care,” Roderick Hay, MD, FRCP, chairman of the International Foundation for Dermatology, told Healio.com/Dermatology. “And in all of this, dermatologists have a major role to play.”

“The medical consequences of albinism are skin cancer and low vision, but they are completely … tied up with conditions that affect albinos in some parts of the world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, which is persecution by their local communities,” Hay said. “This goes way beyond simple discrimination and can result in ritual murder and mutilation in order to obtain body parts because it’s believed in some parts of the world that the body parts of albinos possess magical powers.”

Hay spoke at a press conference to discuss the inaugural International Albinism Awareness Day, which has been declared by the United Nations for Saturday. Representatives from the International Foundation for Dermatology and Under the Same Sun joined World Congress of Dermatology (WCD) officials at the event.

In North America and Europe, 1 in 20,000 people have albinism, according to Under the Same Sun. WHO estimates are from 1 in 5,000 to 1 in 15,000 in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Tanzania, 1 in 1,400 people have the condition, according to a WCD press release. – by Bruce Thiel