For an African albino daily exposure to the sun gives rise to a number of skin problems including skin cancers.

Albinos also need to protect their eyes from UV light with good sunglasses.  They should protect their skin by covering up and wearing a hat. Above all the use of a good sun block is with a high protective factor of not less than 30 is necessary to give adequate protection from skin cancers. For an African albino this sort of protection is not easily available and there is also a great lack of knowledge concerning their problems.

Finally albinos also experience social problems because they are ‘different’. This is certainly the case in Africa where this difference is so noticeable. In Africa many people think that albinos are also mentally handicapped or through superstition they fear that they will bring bad luck. This means that they are frequently subjected to discrimination. The lack of general knowledge concerning albinism causes people to seek a declaration in the spirit world for the ‘whiteness’ of albinos. This gives rise to the idea that albinos have a special contact with the spirit world and have special powers which are sited in their hair, blood and bones. These ideas can be life threatening! Either way an albino can suffer from a certain stigma caused by looking different. The foundation attempts to combat this ignorance and the attendant fears by providing information and instruction whenever and wherever possible. By holding albino awareness days Albino Associations demonstrate that albinos are just like other people with the exception of their lack of pigmentation. The foundation also supports this work.