GENEVA - Two UN experts* today welcomed the World Health Organization's (WHO) decision to restore sunscreen on the model lists of essential medicines.
"The decision to restore sunscreen on the WHO's national essential medicines lists is an important development in the long struggle to draw attention to, and find practical, effective and sustainable remedies, for the needless deaths caused by skin cancer for persons with albinism," the experts said.
The decision by the WHO expert committee on the selection and use of essential medicines comes at a time of growing focus on the detrimental impact of skin cancer and the need for collective action in response to the persisting health concerns of persons with albinism, whose genetic lack of melanin and the worsening effects of climate change globally, make them susceptible to sunburn, premature skin-aging, and, most alarmingly, skin cancer - particularly non-melanoma skin cancers, which can develop rapidly in the absence of protective melanin.
The experts stressed that poor awareness of skin cancer, lack of adequate access to sunscreen, slow institutional and governmental responses to the basic health care needs of persons with albinism at the time of an existential climate crisis, have led to a preventable catastrophe where skin cancer has become the primary cause of death amongst the albinism community globally. "We commend the WHO committee for positively responding to our joint application which requested sunscreen to be restored on the WHO model list of essential medicines," they said.
The WHO decision is aligned with States' international obligations to prevent foreseeable human rights harm arising from climate change and avoid discrimination in their climate and health responses, including through international cooperation. It is also in line with the obligation to take differentiated measures to effectively protect people most disproportionately affected by climate change, taking intersectionality into account, as recently also clarified by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in its Advisory Opinion on the Climate Emergency based on guidance from several UN human rights experts'.
"While the decision could transform the everyday lives of persons with albinism, including life expectancy, its effectiveness will depend on the political will, commitment and creativity of governments in establishing robust processes and mechanisms to integrate sunscreen in national health infrastructures and supply chains," the experts said.
"We remind all governments that the provision and access to sunscreen for persons with albinism is not a cosmetic exercise. It is a fundamental human right," they said.
