Rakesh Kumar Singh|Babita Singh|Sharika Mahato
Community knowledge, attitude, and perceived stigma of leprosy amongst community members living in Dhanusha and Parsa districts of Southern Central Nepal
Patan Academy of Health Sciences|Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital|Hebrew University of Jerusalem|NLR Nepal
background though nepal declared leprosy elimination 2010 burden constantly rising terai communities past 2 years 3000 new leprosy cases diagnosed annually communitys perception important prevention control leprosy enhancing quality life leprosy patients poor knowledge unfavorable attitude stigma create hindrance leprosy control main objective study assess knowledge attitude stigma leprosy amongst community members living dhanusha parsa districts southern central nepal methods total 423 individuals interviewed using structured questionnaire dhanusha parsa districts data analyzed using descriptive frequency percentage median statistical inferences chisquare test kruskal wallis h test mann whitney u test binary logistic regression using spssvs20 results respondents heard leprosy source information leprosy mainly found health workershospitals 331 626 reported bacteria cause followed myths bad bloodcursehereditybad deeds 36 438 responded leprosy transmitted prolonged close contact leprosy patients 257 reported religious rituals treatment 421 good knowledge 409 favorable attitude good knowledge leprosy highly associated favorable attitude towards leprosy p0001 outcome variables knowledge attitude emic score found highly significant association age sex ethnicity religion education occupation respondents p0001 knowledge leprosy transmission positively associated favorable attitude towards leprosy p0001 conclusions strategizing awareness programmes according sociodemographic characteristics enhancing knowledge regarding leprosy cause symptoms transmission prevention treatment foster positive community attitude towards leprosy affected persons enhancing positive attitude towards leprosy affected persons reduce community stigma thus may increase participation community positive attitude may increase early health seeking behaviour including quality life