ZIMBABWE is not doing enough to protect people living with albinism as they continued to be discriminated against by society, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said.
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Tsvangirai, who was speaking at a stakeholder meeting on people living with albinism in Harare yesterday, said more needed to be done to assist those affected with albinism.
“The stigmatisation and discrimination of people living with albinism shows that the State may not be doing enough to enforce compliance with anti-discriminatory laws,” he said.
“A society’s level of civilisation is measured by the extent to which it treats its most vulnerable. We must strive, as a society, to be more inclusive and to be more caring.”
He added that those with albinism suffered from stigmatisation because society did not understand the condition.
“There are the mixed reactions and responses to albinism across our society, mostly misguided and uninformed myths and misconceptions hence this conference theme of Enhancing Public Awareness; Knowledge and Acceptance of People Living with Albinism,” the Premier said. Zimbabwe Albino Association (Zimas) chairman Richard Nyathi said: “Albinism is a small thing if it is handled nationally. We are only about 17 000 here in Zimbabwe.”
Zimas committee member Farai Maunganidze said as albinos, they faced rejection from society.
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“We are highly stigmatised due to our colour and it affects significantly our self-esteem,” he said.
Memory Munyoro, who has two albino babies, told the gathering that women who give birth to babies with the condition lacked proper counselling on the special care needed for them.
“After I delivered, I was just given the general counselling given to other mothers that I had to breast feed my baby exclusively for six months.
“I did not know that my babies needed special care and needed to be kept away from the sun. I only learnt this when they started developing blisters,” Munyoro said.
