A preliminary study of skin bleaching and factors associated with skin bleaching among women living in Zimbabwe.

Princess Nyoni-Kachambwa,Wanapa Naravage,Nigel F James,Marc Van Der Putten

doi:10.4314/ahs.v21i1.18

Abstract

Skin bleaching was reported to be commonly practiced among women and Africa was reported to be one of the most affected yet the subject is not given much attention in public health research in Zimbabwe despite the adverse effects of skin bleaching on health. This study was an exploratory cross-sectional survey to explore skin bleaching, skin bleaching patterns and factors associated with skin bleaching among women living in Zimbabwe. An online self-administered questionnaire was sent out to women on social network i.e. WhatsApp, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. A total number of 260 respondents, mean age 31.69 (SD, 8.12) years participated in the survey. The prevalence of skin bleaching among the participants was 31.15%. The major reason reported for skin bleaching was to have smooth and healthy skin alongside other factors such as beauty, gaining social favours for example getting married and good jobs. Occupation, complexion and marital status were associated with skin bleaching. The odds of skin bleaching for participants who were employed was 1.45(95% confidence interval [CI],0.32-1.91);p-value 0.02, dark skinned participants 2.56(95% CI, 0.76-2.87);p-value 0.01 and unmarried participants 2.87(95% CI,0.29-3.58);p-value 0.03. Evidence from the research suggests skin bleaching might be common among women living in Zimbabwe and possibly poses serious health threats to the women. Skin bleaching seems to be deep rooted in colourism. The colourism seems to be taken advantage of by the cosmetic industry which produce the potentially hazardous products which promise the revered light skin to women but which comes with a price. However, the study provides a base for future studies to explore more on skin bleaching practices among women living in Zimbabwe.

Highlights

Despite its potentially adverse effects, skin bleaching has reached epidemic levels around the globe
Age was grouped into 3 categories; young adults which were grouped between 18-35years, middle aged adults from [36-50] years and mature adults to older women over 50 years
The possibility that some social advantages are associated with light skin as observed in our study suggests colourism could be present in Zimbabwe

Summary

Introduction

Despite its potentially adverse effects, skin bleaching has reached epidemic levels around the globe. Skin bleaching is generally the lightening of the skin and is the studies’ findings might not have been representative enough due to reasons such as convenience sampling, skin bleaching for cosmetics purposes was reported to be high and most common among women in Africa[1,2,3]. Skin bleaching was reported to be commonly practiced among women and Africa was reported to be one of the most affected yet the subject is not given much attention in public health research in Zimbabwe despite the adverse effects of skin bleaching on health. The colourism seems to be taken advantage of by the cosmetic industry which produce the potentially hazardous products which promise the revered light skin to women but which comes with a price. A preliminary study of skin bleaching and factors associated with skin bleaching among women living in Zimbabwe.

Results

Discussion

Conclusion