Elissen M C
Medical Faculty, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Trop Geogr Med. 1991 Oct;43(4):379-82.
In Bone district, Province of South Sulawesi, Indonesia, a total of 50 randomly selected leprosy patients were interviewed about their beliefs about their illness with the help of a questionnaire. It became evident, that their knowledge about leprosy was generally satisfactory, but only few patients adopted the bacterial theory as cause of their disease. Besides it was found that leprosy patients tend to discriminate themselves, while more tolerance was found in their healthy contacts. Traditional beliefs and religious ideas played an important role. To overcome the stigma, more health education, based on a multidisciplinary approach is required. Beside the modern medical theory, cultural beliefs and religious views have to be taken into consideration.
