In a move to curb brutal attacks on people with albinism in Malawi, authorities have embarked on giving them tracking devices to alert police officers when users of the devices are being attacked.
This comes at a time when Malawi is battling to end killings and attacks on people with albinism in Malawi.
Chairperson of Association of People with Albinism in Malawi (APAM) Overstone Kondowe said persons with albinism in hotspot will be provided with GPS piece of hardware which has panic alarm buttons and when attacked they will be activating alarms by pressing SOS buttons.
He said the system then alerts registered responders simultaneously which might include the police and community support groups.
The devices which have been sourced from CC Initiative Limited from United Kingdom under GPS Security Project will help the registered users being rescued once attacked.
“The project is the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa for protection of PWA,” Kondowe said.
He explained that APAM believes that if such a project is fully supported and scaled out throughout Malawi, the number of attacks on persons with albinism would be decreased.
Meanwhile Police in Machinga have applauded efforts of ending the attacks arguing that they have not reported any case of attacks in the year.
For the past years graves belonging to persons with albinism were exhumed while some people with albinism were attacked to death for their body parts.
Despite different stakeholders condemning the attacks, the matter refuses to disappear in a thin air following fresh reports of senseless attacks this year.
*Additional reporting by Martha Chikoti
