Knowledge and attitude about leprosy in Delhi in post elimination phase.

Abstract

Unlabelled: Leprosy is a chronic communicable disease since age associated with stigma and suffering. India claims its elimination but in some districts it remains a public health problem. A cross sectional study was conducted and a total of 60 persons were interviewed with an objective to assess the knowledge and attitude about leprosy among sample of 30 adults each from leprosy colony dwellers and urban slum dwellers in South District of Delhi.

Result: Knowledge about the leprosy among leprosy colony dwellers was significantly lower than the slum dwellers. Both the groups still believed that leprosy could be due to curse of God, past misdeeds, and could spontaneously occur. Respondents of leprosy colony had significantly less adverse attitude such as leprosy patient should never get married (12% vs 57%), patient should be kept in leprosy colony (0 vs 30%) and should not be allowed to enter religious places (0 vs 23%). Surprisingly 73% of them had not heard about MDT and only (68%) knew that treatment is available free of cost in all Govt. hospitals. Only about half of the respondents knew that deformities could be corrected.

Conclusion: This study reflects the poor awareness and negative attitudes towards leprosy particularly among leprosy patients themselves, which could be one of the reasons for slow progress in Leprosy Elimination Program in Delhi.