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| - At least 13 albino people in DR Congo have died of skin cancer in the past six months, a campaign group said on Monday, blaming coronavirus restrictions on making it harder for patients to get medical care. "The pandemic has meant that the situation of albinos, which was already catastrophic, has got worse," said Simon-Pierre Kalenga, president of an organisation called OBIAC, which is fighting anti-albino discrimination. "Over the last six months, we have lost at least 13 albinos. They died as a result of skin cancer," he said. The fatalities occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo's southeast, home to over 1,000 albinos according to 2019 figures, he said. Kalenga is himself affected by albinism, a rare genetic condition that limits the production of melanin and leaves patients' skin without pigment and highly susceptible to cancer. "Before the pandemic, we used to meet up every Sunday to talk about problems tied to albinism, but now everything is difficult given the restrictions... we have no way of keeping an eye on sick albinos," he said. Patients with cancer "didn't have the resources to get to hospital to get the right care," Kalenga said. OBIAC has urged the authorities to help albinos with everyday protection such as sun cream and protective glasses. Albinism is not just a disability but a source of marginalisation in many African countries. In some areas, young albinos can even be sacrificed in sorcerous rituals. Two albino children narrowly escaped an attempted kidnapping in the DRC's eastern South Kivu province in November, the regional APIA albino association's president Juvenal Lushule said. "There are overwhelming threats against us albinos -- some people even feel compelled to dig up albinos' bones for vile purposes," he added. str/mbb/tgb/ri
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