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Table 1 Estimated prevalence and number of people with albinism by country

From: Albinism in Africa as a public health issue

Author

Country/Population*

Study Details

Prevalence

Estimated Number in country**

Kromberg et al.(11)

South Africa/45,026,000

Cross-sectional study. Subjects were ascertained through all 120 schools, 6 health clinics and 2 hospitals in Soweto and interviewed; 213 albinism cases found; 206 interviewed

1/3,900

11,545

Venter et al. (12)

South Africa/45,026,000

Prospective hospital based study on liveborn neonates in Sovenga; 5 albinism cases

0.66 per 1,000 live births (Incidence)

29,720+

Kagore et al. (14)

Zimbabwe/12,835,000

Postal survey of all secondary schools within the Harare regional office area; second mailing in 3 months; visited, if there was no response

1/2,833

4,531

Lund (13)

Zimbabwe/12,835,000

Nationwide survey to schools; age range of 6–23 yrs; 278 albinism cases

1/4,728

2,715

Lund et al. (9)

Zimbabwe/12,835,000

Follow up on the above study which identified a cluster of OCA2# in Tonga community; 11 albinism cases; 5 adults and 1 school girl were interviewed

1/1,000

---

Luande et al. (17)

Tanzania/36,977,000

Cross-sectional study. Questionnaire to 350 registered people with albinism in Tanzania Tumor Centre

1/1,400

---

Okoro (8)

Nigeria/124,009,000

Cross-sectional study. Questionnaires distributed to people with albinism who came to the hospital; expanded the study to educational, health, religious institutions and markets in East central state; 517 albinism cases

1/15,000

8,267

  1. () Reference source
  2. * Source of population data as of 2003: http://www.who.int/en/
  3. ** Although it is a crude estimate, we used the prevalence of the specific population in the study and the total population in the country to extrapolate the absolute number of people with albinism within a country
  4. # OCA2 = Oculocutaneous albinism Type 2 (Tyrosine positive)
  5. + The absolute number in this case was estimated from a prevalence rate of 1 in 1,515 which was provided by the study's authors
  6. --- The population studied makes it difficult to generalize the prevalence to the entire country. Therefore, the absolute number within the country was not estimated