‘Albinos still face challenges of discrimination’

As the world celebrates the international Albinism awareness, greater emphasis has been placed on mainstreaming the peculiar needs of persons living with Albinism in Nigeria.

Speaking at the event organised by The Albino Foundation (TAF), to commemorate the 2018 international Albinism awareness day in Abuja, the founder of the albino foundation, Jake Epelle, said there are more areas yet to be covered in meeting the peculiar needs of people with Albinism in Nigeria.

He added that although the awareness rate has increased, Albinos still face major challenges of discrimination and lack of medical treatments especially with the prevalence of skin cancer among the group.

In what he described as the greatest political movement, The Albino Foundation with funding from the European Union, presented a survey designed to facilitate a framework for developing support systems for the care and protection of persons with Albinism in Nigeria.

The survey he added will help to ascertain the actual challenges and percentage of Albinos in Nigeria, with a pilot survey in six states and the FCT.

Statistics from the survey show that a larger percentage of albinos in Nigeria are Women 55% , while 45% are men, most of them are: Christians(65%), Muslims (33%) other forms of religion(2%).

It highlights the primary challenge among people with Albinism in Nigeria as poor vision and skin related problems due to exposure to sunlight and harsh weather conditions.

Furthermore, the survey emphasizes on the low and seemingly nonexistent support from the government, stating that the key interventions in this regard is largely attributed to individuals and non governmental organisations.

The survey is part of the two major projects of the EU in promoting rights and social inclusion of Albinos in Nigeria.

The European Union used the platform to pledge her continuous support towards the cause of Albinism in Nigeria.