Sea, sand but no sunscreen: tiny Tuvalu want to protect their skin | Global development

AAt the time when the midday sun hits Tuvalu, a thin slice of golden sand in a remote region of Oceania, locals shelter under palm trees at the edge of the lagoon or retreat into the dark interiors of their houses. They can not do anything else to escape the powerful rays of the sun, because there is no sunscreen in the whole country, despite the hard work of locals to get it.

Tuvalu is the fourth smallest country in the world and is located halfway between Australia and Hawaii, in the Pacific Ocean.

Clbadified as a developing country by the United Nations, Tuvalu is at the forefront of climate change and is already seeing devastating effects, including sea level rise, coastal erosion, drought and temperatures. higher annuals.

A department of Princess Margaret Hospital in Funafuti's capital has been dedicated to climate change-related illnesses, which have increased over the past decade, according to hospital figures.

Residents complain of rising temperatures that are becoming "unbearable" and acting public health chief, Suria Eusala Paufolau, said the incidents of heat eruption, heat stroke and Dehydration was intensifying.

While locals do their best to avoid the sun and wear long protective clothing, one of the most basic defenses of the Western world is totally unavailable: sunscreen.

The sunscreen was absent from all the stores and supermarkets of the capital Funafuti during the Guardian's visit in March. Meanwhile, products such as wash for feminine hygiene, hair dye and baby cologne were widely available.

"We do not have sunscreen," says a shop owner. "We have never had sunscreen."

Tuvaluans – especially women – claim that their only option for acquiring sunscreen is to buy it in neighboring Fiji, an expensive two and a half hour flight.

Half a dozen women surveyed in Funafuti Square said that if sunscreen was available, they would buy it, citing the aging of their skin as the focus of their concerns.

"I'm only 32, but I look older, we can not protect ourselves from sunscreen, we can not get anything to protect our skin," says a woman from the area, a woman at home and a mother of five. "Do you have any, can I have some, please?"

According to the World Health Organization, shortages of many essential medicines are common in Tuvalu, and the country is one of the largest importers of health products in the world, according to the BMJ.

Tony Reeder, badociate professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Otago in New Zealand, is an expert in the prevention of skin cancer. It is alarming to find that a sunscreen is not available for Tuvaluans.

"Not having access to sunscreen is very critical, especially for people exposed to the sun for long periods of time," says Reeder. "There are many barriers to using sunscreen because it is often considered a Western product and can be very expensive."

Reeder says that subsidizing the cost of sun protection is an option.

"Some countries have started to reclbadify sun protection as a pharmaceutical protection product. Polynesians also need sun protection. Sun damage has been reported in Africans with black skin. Thus, all skin types can be damaged by exposure to the sun. "

The most urgent health problems are the most likely reason why sunscreen has been neglected in Tuvalu, says Reeder.

A 2015 study by dermatologists in Taiwan on skin conditions in Tuvalu – the first ever undertaken – concluded "there is a glaring lack of knowledge about the prevalence of skin conditions in Tuvalu".

Elsewhere in the Pacific, where sunscreen is widely available, some countries such as Palau and Hawaii have banned the product because some of the chemicals in the sunscreens have been linked to the deterioration of coral reefs.