Health care needs of persons affected by leprosy in Kurnool division of Kurnool district

Authors

  • Visweswara Rao Guthi Department of Community Medicine, Assistant Professor, Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences, Narketpally, Nalgonda, Telangana, India
  • A. Sreedevi Professor and HOD, Department of Community Medicine, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20172843

Keywords:

Leprosy, Health care needs, Detection delay, Treatment regularity, MDT

Abstract

Background: One of the challenges in NLEP-3 is need assessment as well as establishment of well-coordinated services with capacity building for prevention and care of disabilities due to leprosy at primary, secondary and tertiary levels in the country. There is very little data on the types of problems faced by people with leprosy-related disabilities (PLD) and the resulting needs. Aim of the study is to assess the health care needs of study subjects.

Methodology: This is a community based cross–sectional study conducted in Kurnool district. There were 296 registered persons affected by leprosy between May 2012 to October 2013 out of which 276 registered persons affected by leprosy were available for the study. Information collected was place of registration for availing MDT, treatment status, mode of detection, health care provider consulted first etc.

Results: 48.55% of all the registered cases reported voluntarily. (36/276) 13.05% of cases were detected during consultation for other general ailments and 8.69% were detected by health worker during routine field visit. Health worker provided MDT to the persons affected by leprosy at their houses in 14.49% of the cases, 85.51% of the persons obtained MDT from the treatment centre themselves.

Conclusions: This study concluded that there was encouraging to note that public health system was the predominant health system for seeking health care. Most of the cases reported voluntarily to the health care facility. Majority was aware that leprosy causes deformities but did not know that deformities can be prevented.

References

van Brakel WH, Sihombing B, Djarir H, Beise K, Kusumawardhani L, Yulihane R, et al. Disability in people affected by leprosy: the role of impairment, activity, social participation, stigma and discrimination. Glob Health Action, 2012;5:183-94.

Richardus JH, Habbema JD. The impact of leprosy control on the transmission of M. leprae: is elimination being attained? Lepr Rev. 2007;78:330-7.

Kumar AA, Naidu AA, Mahapatra BR, Porichha D. Trend of decline in Leprosy disabilities of a LEPRA project in Malkangiri district, Odisha, India. Indian J Lepr. 2013;85:101-8.

Central Leprosy Division, Directorate General of Health Services, NLEP-Progress Report for the year 2013-14, pdf, Accessed on 28 August 2014.

An Introduction to HCNA, The epidemiological approach to health care needs assessment, 2003. Available at: http://hcna.radcliffeoxford.Com/ introframe.htm. Accessed on 16 April 2017.

Dhillon GPS. Leprosy Elimination in India. Indian J Lepr. 2004;76(2):119-25.

Wilder-Smith EP, Van Brakel WH. Nerve damage in leprosy and its management. Nat Clin Pract Neurol. 2008;4:656-63.

Van Brakel WH, Officer A. Approaches and tools for measuring disability in low and middle-income countries. Lepr Rev. 2008;79:50-64.

Samraj A, Kaki S, Rao. Help-Seeking habits of untreated leprosy patients reporting to a referral hospital in Uttar Pradesh, India. Indian J Lepr. 2012;84:123-9.

Grewal I, Negi Y, Kishore J, Adhis SV. Knowledge and attitude about Leprosy in Delhi in post elimination phase. Indian J Lepr. 2013;85:123-7.

Nicholls PG, Bakirtzief Z, Brakel WH, Das-Pattanaya RK, Raju MS, Norman G, et al. Risk Factors For Participation Restriction In Leprosy And Development Of A Screening Tool To Identify Individuals At Risk. Lepr Rev. 2005;76:305–15.

Gautham MS, Dayananda M, Gopinath D, Shivraj NS, Riyaz B, Pruthvish S. Community-based needs assessment of Leprosy patients in Chamrajanagar District, Karnataka, India. Lepr Rev. 2011;82:286-95.

Sahu T, Sahani NC, Sahu SK. Perspectives of Leprosy patients on MDT services after integration of NLEP functions into Primary health care. Indian J Lepr. 2003;75(3):19-26.

Sarkar J, Dasgupta A, Dutt D. Disability among new leprosy patients; An institution based study in an endemic district for leprosy in the state of West Bengal, India. Indian J Dermatol, Venereol Leprol. 2012;78(3):328-34.

Kumar A, Girdhar A, Girdhar BK. Risk of developing disability in pre and post Multi drug therapy treatment among Multi bacillary Leprosy: Agra MB cohort study. British Med J. 2012;2:e000361.

Downloads

Published

2017-06-23

How to Cite

Guthi, V. R., & Sreedevi, A. (2017). Health care needs of persons affected by leprosy in Kurnool division of Kurnool district. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 4(7), 2474–2481. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20172843

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles