Dr Duke visits Africa to see the lives of albinos (Picture: BBC/Rory Jackson)

In parts of Africa albino children are being murdered by witch doctors, a doctor has revealed in a new documentary.

In Tanzania alone 75 albinos have been killed since 2000 and in Malawi 18 have been murdered since 2014.

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Malawian albinos claim they are targeted because locals believe they have ‘healing’ powers ad their limbs can bring luck.

A doctor from London, Dr Oscar Duke, has now exposed their treatment in a new film for the BBC.


Duke, 30, is an albino himself and in the course of the documentary meets with teenagers who have had arms cut off in attacks when they were seven.

Albinos are often isolated in communities in Malawi and Tanzania (Pictures: ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images)

So-called witch doctors pay rural killers to murder albinos – a condition more common in Malawi and Tanzania than anywhere else in the world.



Farm workers work for just £72 a day in Malawi, meaning that the £7,000 offered for albino body parts can be too temptin.

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In the documentary, Born Too White, Chikumbutzo Massina meets with the killers of his brother Fletcher.

Fletcher had been murdered with a machete and brains, liver, heart, kidneys and lungs were ripped out.

A man who is said to have killed Massina’s brother told the documentary: ‘I was sent by some people who wanted this to happen.’

Albino children are often targeted because witch doctors say their bodies can cure diseases (Pictures: GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Herbert Malloy was apparently paid £44.50 to kill Fletcher. He added: ‘There was a person with us giving out instructions, what was needed from the body, the rest was no good. That’s what we did.’

The NHS doctor, who has appeared in 24 Hours in A&E, found skin cancer to be an additional danger.

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He said: ‘The prejudice I encountered is insignificant compared to what I discovered in Africa where having Albinism can be a death sentence.’

But the lack of melanin in albino skin makes them particularly wary of the sun in southern Africa.

A witch doctor from the 1930s, are still revered by many in Africa (Pictures: Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Last year Amnesty International said: ‘The macabre trade is also fuelled by a belief that bones of people with albinism contain gold,’ noting another belief is that sex with a person with albinism can cure HIV.

Duke explained: ‘Witch doctors are revered by many in the rural communities. Some spread the belief that albino body parts can bring luck and fortune.’

Some albinos choose to live outside of their rural communities and instead in protectorates for their own safety but also because parents are ashamed of their children.

Mainasi Issa, 23, an albino with her daughter (Picture: GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images)

These Tanzanian establishments are often not up to scratch and the British doctor acknowledges them to be ‘grim.’

With children as young as three in shared dorms Duke reflect that ‘at least they are safe.’

Born Too White will be shown on BBC2 on Thursday, February 23 at 9pm.