People with albinism in Malawi face fear and discrimination

A child walks to school in Malawi's Central Region with one eye on the road. Her mother has told her not to take the same route twice. This is not caution — it is a practised survival habit, documented in a report published by Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch found that people with albinism in Malawi face discrimination across nearly every area of daily life — at school, in healthcare settings, in employment, and within their own families. The organisation gathered testimony from survivors, relatives, and community members across the country.

The report describes a climate of fear shaped by the persistent demand for body parts of people with albinism, which certain practitioners of ritual medicine believe carry supernatural properties. Human Rights Watch documented cases in which people with albinism were killed or attacked for their limbs, hair, and skin. Relatives and neighbours have, in some cases, been implicated.

At home and in public

Discrimination, Human Rights Watch found, does not begin with violence. It begins with exclusion. People with albinism described being denied work because employers doubted their physical capacity. Children reported being separated from peers in classrooms or kept home entirely. Within families, some individuals said they were treated as a source of shame rather than as members.

Access to healthcare carried its own difficulties. People with albinism in Malawi have significantly elevated rates of skin cancer due to the near-total absence of melanin, which provides no protection against ultraviolet radiation. Human Rights Watch found that sunscreen and protective clothing — basic tools of prevention — remain inaccessible to many, either because of cost or because rural health facilities do not stock them.

The organisation also documented the psychological toll of living under sustained threat. Several people interviewed described restricting their movements, avoiding markets, and withdrawing from community life.

The failures of protection

Human Rights Watch reported that prosecutions for attacks on people with albinism have been inconsistent. Some perpetrators have faced justice; many have not. The organisation found that police responses varied widely, and that victims and their families sometimes feared reporting crimes, uncertain whether doing so would result in protection or further exposure.

Malawi has taken legislative steps in recent years, including the passage of the Persons with Albinism Act. Human Rights Watch acknowledged these measures while noting that implementation remains uneven and that the lived experience of many people with albinism reflects a gap between law and practice.

The report calls on the Malawian government to strengthen enforcement, improve access to healthcare including sun protection, and address the social conditions that allow discrimination to persist quietly alongside more visible forms of harm.

The findings are a reminder that safety, for people with albinism in Malawi, is not yet a background condition of ordinary life — it remains something to be calculated, route by route, day by day.