Ugandan feminist and also executive director of UNAIDS, Winnie Byanyima has urged Ugandan women to stop bleaching their bodies arguing that the act is a risk to their health.
Skin bleaching, is the practice of using chemical substances in an attempt to lighten the skin or provide an even skin colour by reducing the melanin concentration in the skin.
Appearing on NBS Chat Room, Byanyima warned that those applying bleaching products risk getting cancer. She said some of the bleaching products contain poisonous chemicals that can cause cancer.
“Every doctor will tell you that bleaching is a risk to your health. You will ultimately be sick. So, please stop it!” she said.
Byanyima emphasized that there needs to be a law that protects Ugandans against use of harmful bleaching content in women’s products.
She also appealed to women to feel confident and beautiful in their natural colours saying body bleaching is an awful practice.
“Dark skinned people trying to get whiter, bleaching their hair from dark to white...All this is a remnant of slave trade where we were not human beings, where we were traded,”
Byanyima, thus called for government intervention to protect Ugandan women against harmful bleaching products.
“I think we need some guidance from health leaders about what is acceptable. I am told there are some which have a little bit that will not damage your body and that there are some that will damage it. There’s a room for government to regulate this.” She appealed.
