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The Henry Djaba Memorial Foundation has called on Government to include ‘sun-care products’ in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to cater for persons with albinism.
The Foundation said persons with albinism naturally had extremely light and delicate skin, which required special and regular management, especially in hot weather conditions like Ghana’s.
This was in a statement in support of the 2020 International Albinism Awareness Day, signed by the Executive Director, Madam Otiko Afisah Djaba, and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Saturday.
The Foundation said Government had to prioritise the health of albinos and protect them from needless abuse, discrimination and stigmatisation resulting from their unique skin colour.
It urged the authorities to develop educational and health policies for persons with albinism and institute a ‘Sun Care Day’ in Ghana for albinos as it was done in other African countries like Kenya and Malawi.
It said the physical appearance of persons with albinism was often the object of erroneous beliefs and myths, which were influenced by superstition.
“This leads to marginalisation, social exclusion, discrimination and various cruel and abusive forms of stigma,” it said.
“Albinism is not by choice, it is a pigmentary abnormality which leads to an extremely light hair, skin and eye colour and can be hereditary”.
The Foundation advocated against the negative traditional beliefs in some areas, which suggested that it was a taboo and a curse to give birth to an albino.
