Assessment of disability, social and economic situations of people affected by leprosy in Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.

With the decline in prevalence of leprosy, social and economic rehabilitation (SER) has become a major priority in leprosy control programme in Shandong Province. In the preparative phase of an SER programme, a province-wide survey was conducted with a semi-structured questionnaire in order to provide policy makers and programme managers with some basic information on the disability, and social and economic situation of the people affected by leprosy. This paper presents the results of a study in the people affected by leprosy living in the communities.