Knowledge of and Attitude Toward Leprosy in a Leprosy Endemic District, Eastern Ethiopia: A Community-Based Study

Figures & data

Table 1 Socio-Demographic Characteristics of the Study Participants Among Fedis District Community from July to August, 2019 (n=728)

Variables	Variables Category	Number/Frequency	Percent
Sex	Male	362	49.73
	Female	366	50.27
Age of subjects	18–30 years	367	50.41
	31–45 years	309	42.45
	Above 45	52	7.14
Religion	Muslim	688	94.51
	Orthodox	31	4.26
	Protestant	9	1.24
Ethnicity	Oromo	654	89.84
	Amahara	39	5.36
	Gurage	14	1.92
	Harari	21	2.88
Marital status	Single	98	13.46
	Married	589	80.91
	Separated	41	5.63
Educational status	No formal education	499	68.54
	Grade 1–8	143	19.64
	Secondary school & above	86	11.81
Occupation	Farmer	504	69.23
	House wife	109	14.97
	Merchant	31	4.26
	Government employee	65	8.93
	Others*	19	2.61
Residence	Rural	513	70.47
	Urban	215	29.53

Note: *Students and unemployed.

Table 2 Knowledge of Leprosy Among Study Participants in Fedis District from July to August, 2019 (n=608)

Knowledge Related Questions	Response	Frequency	Percentage
Have you heard about leprosy?	Yes	608	83.52
	No	120	16.48
Where did you hear about leprosy?	Mass media	333	54.77
	Family member	97	15.95
	Health worker	118	19.41
	Friends	87	14.31
	Do not remember	1	0.16
What causes leprosy?	Punishment for sin of family	100	16.45
	Due to curse by God	109	17.93
	Immoral conduct	37	6.09
	Hereditary cause	256	42.11
	Unclean environment cause	72	11.84
	Bacterial cause	188	30.92
	Cold food cause	57	9.38
	Bad blood cause	6	0.99
What is/are symptoms of leprosy?	It causes skin irritation	257	42.27
	It can present as skin patches	310	50.99
	Loss of sensation	265	43.59
	It can lead to deformities or disal urement	102	16.78
	Always deformity	121	19.90
What is/are means of leprosy transmission?	Aerosol droplets	226	37.17
	Casual contact	140	23.03
	Contaminated water and soil	45	7.40
	Sexual contact	113	18.59
	Prolonged contact	221	36.35
	Site beside patient	63	10.36
	Share items with patient	87	14.31
Is leprosy cured?	Yes	472	77.63
	No	54	8.88
	Sometimes	64	10.53
	I do not know	18	2.96
What is/are the treatment of leprosy?	Pharmaceutical drugs	550	90.46
	Traditional mode of treatment	78	12.83
	Religious ritual treatment	44	7.24
	I do not know treatment option	13	2.14

Table 3 Association Between Knowledge of Leprosy and Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Study Participants in Fedis District, from July to August, 2019 (n=608)

Variables	Category	Overall Knowledge Regarding Leprosy
		Low, N (%)	High (%)	COR (95% CI)	AOR (95% CI)
Sex	Male	127 (48.47)	194 (56.07)	1
	Female	135(51.53)	152(43.93)	0.73(0.53–1.01)*	0.81(0.56–1.15)
Age in years	18–30	127 (48.47)	175 (50.58)	1
	31–45	123 (46.95)	147(42.49)	0.86(0.62–1.20)
	>45	12 (4.58)	24 (6.94)	1.45(0.69–3.01)
Current marital status	Never married	32 (12.21)	50 (14.45)	1
	Married	217 (82.82)	278 (80.35)	0.81(0 0.50–1.32)
	Separated	13 (4.96)	18 (5.20)	0.88(0.38–2.05)
Educational status	No formal education	191(72.90)	217(62.72)	1
	Grade 1–8	46 (17.56)	81 (23.41)	1.54(1.02–2.33)*	1.68(1.09–2.58)**
	Secondary & above	25 (9.54)	48 (13.87)	1.68(1.00–2.84)*	0.39(0.13–1.18)
Occupation	Farmer	189 (72.14)	246 (71.10)	1
	Housewife	44 (16.79)	41(11.85)	0.71(0.44–1.14)*	0.75(0.45–1.24)⁎
	Merchant	10 (3.82)	10 (2.89)	0.76(0 0.31–1.88)	0.63(0.24–1.62)
	Government Employee	12 (4.58)	47 (13.58)	3.00(1.55–5.83)*	7.56(2.23–5.63)**
	Others	7 (2.67)	2 (0.58)	0.21(0.04–1.06)*	0.81(0 0.14–4.75)
Residence	Rural	191 (72.90)	265(76.59)	1
	Urban	71 (27.10)	81 (23.41)	0.82(0.56–1.18)

Notes: Statistically significant difference* (P<0.25), ** (P<0.05).

Abbreviations: COR, crude odds ratio; AOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.

Table 4 Attitude toward Leprosy Among Study Participants in Fedis District from July to August, 2019 (n=608)

Attitude Related Questions	Response
	Yes N (%)	No N (%)	I Do Not Know N (%)
Would you admit to sitting beside a leprosy patient in public transport?	309 (50.82)	270(44.41)	29 (4.77)
Would you be ashamed if someone has leprosy in your family?	400 (65.79)	175(28.78)	33 (5.43)
Would you admit to sharing a plate with a leprosy patient?	298(49.01)	278 (45.72)	32(5.26)
Would you admit to owning a child who married someone from a family with a history of leprosy?	103(16.94)	471 (77.47)	34(5.59)
Would you be ashamed to work with a leprosy patient in the same environment?	225(37.01)	341(56.09)	42(6.91)
Would you allow your own child to play with a child from leprosy family?	155(25.49)	417 (68.59)	36 (5.92)
Would you admit to helping if someone gets leprosy in the family?	513(84.38)	73 (12.01)	22(3.62)
Would you share items with a leprosy patient?	251(41.28)	337 (55.43)	20(3.29)

Table 5 Independent Predictors of Attitude toward Leprosy Among Study Participants in Fedis District from July to August, 2019 (n=608)

Attitude	Independent Predictors	95% CI
		OR	Lower	Upper	p-value
Would not admit to sitting beside leprosy patient in public transport?	Think leprosy is transmitted by aerosol droplets	2.52	1.79	3.55	<0.001
	Think leprosy is hereditary	0.72	0.52	0.99	0.047
	Think leprosy is due to casual contact	2.84	1.89	4.25	<0.001
Would be ashamed if someone had leprosy in your family?	Think leprosy is hereditary	1.81	1.27	2.59	0.001
	Think leprosy is due to prolonged contact	2.28	1.59	3.26	<0.001
Would not admit to sharing plate with leprosy patient?	Think leprosy is caused by bacteria	1.68	1.19	2.38	0.003
	Think leprosy is transmitted by aerosol droplets	1.41	1.01	1.96	0.040
	Think leprosy is a curse	0.20	0.09	0.40	0.000
Would not admit to owning a child who married someone from a family with a history of leprosy?	Think leprosy is curse	0.28	0.12	0.63	0.002
	Think leprosy is hereditary	1.99	1.30	3.06	0.002
	Think leprosy is caused by bacteria	2.90	1.88	4.48	<0.001
	Think leprosy is due to prolonged contact	1.93	1.25	2.96	0.003
Would be ashamed to work with leprosy patient in the same environment?	Think leprosy is a punishment for sin	0.41	0.26	0.64	<0.001
	Think leprosy is due to prolonged contact	1.59	1.14	2.24	0.007
	Think leprosy is transmitted by aerosol droplets	0.38	0.27	0.54	<0.001
Would not allow own child to play with a child from leprosy family?	Think leprosy is curse	3.49	1.36	8.96	0.009
	Think leprosy is transmitted by aerosol droplets	2.32	1.60	3.37	<0.001
Would admit to helping if someone gets leprosy in the family?	Think leprosy is caused by bacteria	1.82	1.07	3.09	0.025
	Think leprosy is curse	0.58	0.34	0.98	0.044

Table 6 Association Between Levels of Attitude Regarding Leprosy and Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Study Participants in Fedis District from July to August, 2019 (n=608)

Variables	Category	Level of Attitude Regarding Leprosy
		Unfavorable, N (%)	Favorable, N (%)	COR(95% CI)	AOR(95% CI)
Sex	Male	183 (50.83)	138(55.65)	11
	Female	177 (49.17)	110 (44.35)	0.82(0.59–1.14)*	0.71(0.48–1.04)
Age in years	18–30	169(46.94)	133 (53.63)	1
	31–45	169 (46.94)	101(40.73)	0.75(0.54–1.06)*	0.79(0.54–1.14)
	>45	22(6.11)	14 (5.65)	0.80(0.39–1.64)	0.80(0.37–0.1.70)
Current marital status	Never married	56(15.56)	26(10.48)	1
	Married	285(79.17)	210(84.68)	1.58(0 0.96–2.61)
	Separated	19(5.28)	12(4.84)	1.36(0 0.57–3.21)
Educational status	No formal education	264 (73.33)	144(58.06)	1
	Grade 1–8	54 (15.00)	73(29.44)	2.47(1.65–3.72)*	2.72(1.76–4.19)**
	Secondary & above	42(11.67)	31(12.50)	1.35(0.81–2.24)*	0.95(0.35–2.59)
Occupation	Farmer	252 (70.00)	183(73.79)	1
	Housewife	55 (15.28)	30 (12.10)	0.75(0.46–1.21)	0.75(0.44–1.28)
	Merchant	14 (3.89)	6 (2.42)	0.59(0.22–1.562)	0.51(0.17–0.1.46)
	Civil servant	31(8.61)	28(11.29)	1.24(0.72–2.14)	1.78(0 0.60–5.21)
	Others	8 (2.22)	1(0.40)	0.17(0.02–1.38)*	0.31(0.03–2.81)
Residence	Rural	251(69.72)	205(82.66)	1
	Urban	109 (30.28)	43(17.34)	0.48(0.32–0.71)*	0.49(0.31–0.75)**

Notes: Statistically significant difference *(P<0.25), **(P<0.05).

Abbreviations: COR, crude odds ratio; AOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval.