Albinos demand specialised skin care

Baboki Kayawe | Thursday October 20, 2016 15:33

 

They say high turnover in health care has lead to instances where prescriptions are not followed up by the initial consultants, hence confusion as to what exactly to believe. 

Already, living in an extremely hot country, the albinism community say they have had contradicting prescriptions from public (skin care) doctors, further making them vulnerable to skin diseases, prime of which being cancer.

These sentiments were made by Dimpho Kobue, a representative from TSHIMOLOGO Albinism Association at an ongoing seminar on access to justice for persons with disabilities.

The two-day workshop, held at the University of Botswana, started yesterday. Kobue said there are few dermatologists in public health facilities and that they stay shorter periods at these places making it difficult for consistency, and continuity in skin care to be realised.

“The other setback is that you would find that these practitioners give contradicting prescriptions and we are really not sure which is legit in that case. In addition, high turn over makes it difficult to make follow-ups with the practitioners,” he said.

He appealed to health authorities to ensure that skin care specialists are trained in numbers, and retained in light of challenges facing people with albinism.

“We need specialised skin care, and precision is critical because if I am given or recommended a lotion with the wrong Potential of Hydrogen (pH) balance, it might expose me to further harm,” he added.

Scientifically, pH is the acid-base balance of a solution; it represents the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution.

Albinism affects the amount of pigment (melanin) found in the skin, hair and eyes. People with albinism usually have little to no pigment in their eyes, skin and hair.

“Our skin makes us prone to skin cancers.

The right to health is for all Batswana, and therefore we call on policymakers to look into our plea and cater for us because owing to our condition, very few get employment, consequently we cannot afford access to private health facilities,” he said on the sidelines of the seminar.

He buttresses that unlike ‘normal’ pigmented people, their products are pricey.

Regarding the impaired vision, Kobue said the education system must also consider offering remedial lessons as well as added examinations time for people with albinism who find themselves in the conventional school set up.

“It has to be considered that we are short sighted, while a ‘normal’ learner would take as much time to copy notes from the board or take a test; someone with albinism would take a longer time to do the same task. So, our education system has to be cognisant of these challenges,” he said. 

Moreover, he recommends that their exam papers be printer in a larger text for it to be user friendly.