Jessica Durando

USA TODAY

At least 18 people with albinism have been killed for their body parts in the southern African country of Malawi since November 2014, Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday.

The body parts are sold for use in remedies by witch doctors, who say albino parts bring good luck or wealth, according to the report., It added that women and children are especially vulnerable to attack because of the myth that having sex with a person with albinism can cure HIV/AIDS.

The actual number of killings likely is higher because many deaths in rural areas go unreported, Amnesty International said.

There are an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 people born with the absence of pigment in their skin, eyes and hair, according to The Association of People with Albinism in Malawi. They "live in fear of losing their lives to criminal gangs, who, in some instances, include close family members," Amnesty said.

"Societal misunderstanding of albinism in Malawi has endangered the lives of this population group. It has created insecurity and widespread discrimination. In everyday life people with albinism are frequently treated as less than human," the group said.

Criminals also remove bones from graves of people with albinism in order to sell them in Malawi and Mozambique, the report said: "The macabre trade is also fueled by a belief that the bones of people with albinism contain gold."

Malawian police said the uptick in violence occurred after neighboring Tanzania imposed tough measures against the trade in January 2015, the Associated Press reported.

Witch hunts increase in Tanzania as albino deaths jump

President Peter Mutharika has publicly condemned the killings and established a committee to look into the issue further, but police admit they lack enough officers in rural areas, where the majority of attacks take place, the AP reported.

“That anybody could think that you can be rich by using bones or something like that because some witch doctors have said so. … That’s stupidity,” Mutharika told a political rally on June 1.