Attitudes of rural people in central Ethiopia towards leprosy and a brief comparison with observations on epilepsy.
To find out public attitudes toward leprosy a door-to-door survey was carried out in 1546 sampled households in the rural farming community of Meskan and Mareko in central Ethiopia, where the prevalence of leprosy is estimated to be 1:1000. Attitudes toward leprosy were compared with attitudes to epilepsy, studied in a previously performed survey in the same community. Eighty-seven per cent of the respondents were above the age of 25, and 59.5% were females. There were slightly more Muslims (54%) than Christians. The majority of the interviewees (87%) were farmers, with an illiteracy rate of 84%. Ninety-five per cent and 83%, respectively, were not willing to employ or work with a person having the disease. Seventy-five per cent would not allow their children to associate with a playmate suffering from leprosy. Comparative analysis of attitudes in the same community showed that negative attitudes toward leprosy were stronger than those toward epilepsy, particularly with regard to matrimonial associations, sharing of accommodation, and physical contact with an affected person. The reasons for these differences appear to be the community's deeply entrenched belief that leprosy is both hereditary and contagious, expressed respectively by 48% and 53% of the respondents. In order to minimize the perpetuation of negative attitudes, there is a need to educate and impress on the population that leprosy is a treatable infectious disease which is not congenitally acquired, and that it is even curable if detected early. The study reinforces previously proposed suggestions that, in developing countries such as Ethiopia, leprosy care should be integrated into the general health services.