African Albinism Epidemic Research Topics

Research Prospectus: The African Albinism Epidemic

Inquiry

Often times there are extremely serious problems occurring in third world countries that are overlooked or never reach the attention of the masses. This is the case of the mass murders, mutilation, then selling of body parts of people with Albinism. Lisa Schlein, in her article characterizes albinism as “an inherited genetic condition characterized by the absence of melanin, which gives the skin, eyes and hair their very pale, almost translucent color” (1). Many people who have documented these cases of attacks on Albino people have linked them directly to witch doctors and black magic. Benjamin Radford, in his article notes that the witch doctors have caused people to believe that

The different topics of my sources convey the range of topic points that will be covered.

In Lisa Schlein’s,”Trade in Albino Body Parts Flourishing in Africa” she first addresses the problem of Albino people being hunted for their limbs. She then goes into detail on the documentary that was showed to the United Nations panel. The documentary includes both an Albino and a Witch Doctor, and goes into depth on the Albino body part market; it depicts both the prices of which they are sold and the superstitious beliefs as being reasons for this market. In Coventry’s article, “Surge in 'stunningly vicious attacks ' on albino children in East Africa, UN rights chief warns” it gives recent statistics of how many attacks, abductions and murders had occurred in just the past 6 months from the publication date. It then goes into other statistics and specific stories of people with Albinism being murdered and sold on the black market, that are still recent. The highlight of this article is it states the ban on witchcraft in Tanzania, and the imprisonment of 11 people, where 6 of them escaped and only 1 was actually

In their article “The Financial Cost of Doctors Emigrating from sub-Saharan Africa: Human Capital Analysis” by Edward J Mills, et al. shows through a study conducted to test investment lost by doctors educated in sub-Saharan African countries that emigrate to other first world countries, proves that there are countless doctors leaving sub-Saharan African countries to go to first world countries, by bringing in data that shows every sub-Saharan African country has lost millions to billions of dollars from this.

In Joseph Sahr Sankoh’s article “Political Corruption In sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Analysis, With Particular Reference to Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria” he deconstructs Africa’s deeply rooted corruption with three hypotheses. During his dissertation it is found that corruption is very widespread and is dated back since the country gained its independence. He also states multiple useful solutions for the corruption, since sub-Saharan African countries still struggle to rid the infestation of