Knowledge, beliefs and attitudes on leprosy in Iloilo City Proper, Philippines.

This study attempts to find out the prevailing knowledge and beliefs in Iloilo City, Philippines regarding leprosy, its causation, mode of transmission, and care. Attitudes of people towards Hansenites and their offsprings are also looked into. Qualitative data are obtained from seven keypersons in the locality who were interviewed in-depth using the unstructured interview guide. Quantitative data are furnished by 100 household heads who were randomly chosen and by 70 senior student-nurses enrolled in the six colleges of nursing in the same city using an interview schedule and questionnaire respectively. Results reveal that 90% of the household heads and 45% of the students have inadequate knowledge on leprosy. None of the household heads and only two students have highly adequate knowledge pertaining to this disease. Leprosy is believed by both the household heads and students to be brought about by as well as supernatural causes. A great majority of the household heads (94%) and students (79%) attribute the cause of leprosy to germs. Blood predilection has been cited by the next highest proportion of both groups of respondents. The third highest proportion of the households heads attribute the cause of the illness to God's will, while among the students, the cause of this disease is believed to be spontaneous. The majority of household heads (94%) and students (95%) believe that skin to skin contact is the most possible mode of transmitting the disease.