Knowledge and awareness of leprosy among school students from selected schools in Batticaloa Educational Zone

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It is an emerging public health problem in Sri Lanka. Leprosy continues to pose challenges due to social stigma, delayed diagnosis and potential for disability. Early case detection rate of leprosy and new cases of childhood leprosy remain high in Sri Lanka indicating ongoing transmission. According to e-PHIS report on 2021 and 2022, most child leprosy cases were reported in Batticaloa region in children with the average age of fifteen years old. The main aim of our study is to assess the knowledge and awareness on leprosy among school students from selected schools in Batticaloa educational zone. An institutional based descriptive cross sectional study was conducted from March 2023 to April 2024. Four schools were selected in Batticaloa Educational Zone, Sri Lanka. For this study 396 sample population were selected from students with the age of 14, 15 and 16 years old. Sampling was done as a stratified, cluster random sampling. Each cluster consists of 33 students. And the data was collected via self administered questionnaires. 396 (100%) students participated in the study as per the required sample size. The collected data was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences version 26. According to this study, overall knowledge and awareness about leprosy among school students is adequate (73.7%) while remaining 26.3% of students lack knowledge on leprosy. Among the participants, 59.8% of students stated that leprosy is caused by bacteria, 17.9% fungus, 13.1% is due to poor hygiene, 9.8% virus and 17.7% is caused by polluted water. 59.8% of students have adequate knowledge about the cause of leprosy while 40.2% of the having poor knowledge on the cause of leprosy. Regarding the knowledge on symptoms, 56.3% of the participants stated pale or light reddish patches as the common presentation of leprosy. The other common symptoms were loss or decrease sensation in skin patches (52.3%), painful swelling & weakness of the nerves (44.7%). Regarding the source of information on leprosy, 57.3% of the participants mentioned that communication devices are the more common source of information of leprosy, 35.9% from friends. 23.7% of students did not get any awareness from any of the sources. Among total population only 7.8% of them are having the misconception of leprosy is caused by a curse of the God. Among 396 participants only 30 students (7.6%) have a thought of “leprosy is caused by our past sins”. 9.3% of students believe that leprosy is caused by witching. Prevalence of misconceptions among students is 37.9%. It shows leprosy related myths and misconceptions are significant among students. Students from selected schools in Batticaloa educational zone have overall adequate knowledge and awareness regarding cause and symptoms of leprosy and mode of transmission. Most of the students acquired information about leprosy via mass media or communication devices. Significant proportion of students have misconceptions regarding leprosy. Hence measures to disseminate correct information via mass media would be effective to increase awareness among students.