Community Perception on Leprosy in the Islands
Keywords:
Leprosy, awareness, Andaman, KAPAbstract
Background: Leprosy is still a public health problem in India. The study was conducted to assess knowledge, attitude and belief about leprosy and the perceived stigma against leprosy patients in community.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried in Andaman and Nicobar Islands among 533 people selected by systematic ran- dom sampling in January 2017 using a pre tested structured ques- tionnaire.
Results: Community perception on leprosy was analyzed on 533 respondents which included 331 females (62.10%) and 202 males
(37.71%). About 85.40% had heard about leprosy, 69.50% were aware about hypo pigmented patches and 32.50% knew that it spreads by close contact. Around one third were aware that lep- rosy is curable, free treatment available and may result in deform- ity if left untreated. 65.90 % didn't want to invite leprosy patient to their social gathering and 12.10% respondents thought that leprosy patient shouldn't be given same respect as others.
Conclusion: Level of knowledge of leprosy is insufficient, there- fore health education, frequent surveys, case detection along with regular and complete treatment play a crucial role for reducing the burden of this disease.
References
Rao AG. Study of leprosy in children. Indian J Lepr, 2009; 81: 195–197.
Barkataki P,Kumar S,Rao P. Knowledge and attitudes to leprosy among patients and community members: A com- parative study in Uttar Pradesh, India. Lepr Rev 2006; 77:62- 68.
Jopling WH. Leprosy stigma. Lepr Rev, 1991; 62: 1–12.
Hansen's Disease (Leprosy): Transmission. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/leprosy/transmission/index.html. Accessed June 22nd, 2018.
Suzuki K et al.Current status of leprosy: epidemiology, ba- sic science and clinical perspectives. Journal of Dermatol- ogy. 2012;39(2):121–129.
Monot M et al. On the origin of leprosy. Science. 2005; 308 (5724): 1040-1042.
Wong ML. Designing programmes to address stigma in lep- rosy: issues and challenges. Asian Pac Rehab J, 2004;15: 3– 12.
Leprosy Epidemiology. Available at https://www.who.int/ lep/epidemiology/en/. Accessed June 22nd, 2018.
Leprosy Factsheet. Available at http://www.who.int/ en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/leprosy. Accessed June 22nd, 2018.
NLEP Annual Report 2015-2016. Central Leprosy Division, Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Government of India, Nirman Bhavan, New Delhi
Navya Handa et al. “Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Leprosy Among Patients Attending Dermatol- ogy out Patient Department in a Tertiary Care Centre in Western Rajasthan, India.”. Journal of Evolution of Medical and Dental Sciences .2015; 4(98), : 16375-16379.
Mohite R et al. Knowledge of slum community toward lep- rosy: a cross-sectional survey from Karad urban block of Western Maharashtra, India. Asian Journal of Pharmaceuti- cal and Clinical Research. 2018;11(3), 357-360
Bajaj DR et al. Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding leprosy among general practitioners at Hyderabad. J Coll Physicians Surg Pak.2009; 19 (4): 215-218
Niranjan A et al.A Cross Sectional Study on Beliefs, Atti- tudes, Misconceptions and Knowledge of Patients & Com- munity towards Leprosy in and Around Rural Areas of Guntur District. IOSR Journal of Pharmacy and Biological Sciences. 2017; 12 (6) : 08-12
Mankar MJ et al: A Comparative study of the quality of life, knowledge, attitude and belief about leprosy disease among leprosy patients and community members in Shantivan Leprosy Rehabilitation Centre, Nere, Maharashtra, India. J Glob Infect Dis. 2011, 3: 378-382
Rao PVet al. Knowledge, attitude and practices about lep- rosy among medical officers of Hyderabad urban district of Andhra Pradesh. Indian J Lepr. 2007;79:27–43
Kopparty SN, Kurup AM, Sivaram M. Problems and coping strategies of families having patients with and without de- formities. Indian J Lepr. 1995; 67: 133–52
Ukpe IS. A study of health workers’ knowledge and prac- tices regarding leprosy care and control at primary care clin- ics in the Eerstehoek area of Gert Sibande district in Mpu- malanga Province, South Africa. SA Fam Pract. 2006;48(5):16–23.
Heijnders ML. Experiencing leprosy: perceiving and coping with leprosy and its treatment. A qualitative study con- ducted in Nepal. Lepr Rev, 2004; 75: 327–337.
Nisar N et al.Knowledge attitude and practices about lep- rosy in a fishing community in Karachi Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. 2007; 23(6): 936–940
John AS, Rao PS. Awareness and attitudes towards leprosy in urban slums of Kolkata, India. Indian J Lepr. 2009;81:135– 40
Kaur H, Gandhi A. People's perception of leprosy: A study in Delhi. Indian J Lepr. 2003;75:37–46
Raju MS, Kopparty SN. Impact of Knowledge on the atti- tude towards leprosy patients: A community study. Int J Lepr. 1995;67:259–272
Nsagha DS, Bamgboye EA, Oyediran AB. Operational bar- riers to the implementation of multidrug therapy and lep- rosy elimination in Cameroon. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol. 2009;75:469–475.
Atre SR, Rangan SG, Shetty VP et al. Perceptions, health seeking behaviour and access to diagnosis and treatment initiation among previously undetected leprosy cases in ru- ral Maharashtra, India. Lepr Rev, 2011; 82: 222–234
Enhanced global strategy for further reducing the disease burden due to leprosy: Operational guidelines (2011−2015). Available at http://www.who.int/lep/resources/B4322/ en/. Accessed June 22nd 2018.
Fischer EA, de Vlas SJ, Habbema JD, Richardus JH. The long-term effect of current and new interventions on the new case detection of leprosy: a modeling study. PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2011; 5: e1330.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The authors retain the copyright of their article, with first publication rights granted to Medsci Publications.
