Mamo Ephrem, Tsehay Dareskedar, Hassen Seid, Getahun Solomon, Mengiste Addis, Tadesse Beletshachew, Tadesse Tesfaye, Legesse Mengestu, Bobosha Kidist
Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 1176, Ethiopia.
Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Addis Ababa P.O. Box 1005, Ethiopia.
Trop Med Infect Dis. 2024 Feb 23;9(3):51. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed9030051.
Despite all of the efforts, leprosy continues to affect hundreds of thousands of people every year, including children, showing the ongoing transmission of the disease within the population. The transmission of leprosy can be interrupted through an integrated approach that includes active case-finding, contact tracing and capacity building of health workers.
A cross-sectional study design was used to assess the knowledge, attitudes and skills of health workers in the screening and diagnosis of leprosy. One hundred and eighty-one and eighty-eight health care workers participated in the pre-and post-assessment surveys, respectively. Data were collected through interviews and an observational checklist. Frequency tables and graphs were used to describe the study variables, and statistical significance between pre- and post-assessment surveys was declared at -value < 0.5.
The percentages of healthcare workers with good knowledge, positive attitudes and skills were 61.2%, 55.6% and 51.7% in the pre-assessment survey and 77.3%, 56.3% and 75.0%, respectively, in the post-assessment survey. There was a significant improvement in the knowledge and skill scores of participants in the post-assessment survey ( < 0.01). During the campaign, 3780 index contacts were screened; 570 (15.1%) were diagnosed with skin diseases, and 17 new leprosy cases were diagnosed (case detection rate of 45 per 10,000 contacts).
Training improved the knowledge and skills of healthcare workers, and a large number of skin diseases were detected through mass screening and active case findings. Providing training for frontline healthcare workers contributed to the detection of more cases and facilitated early detection of leprosy cases.
尽管付出了种种努力，麻风病每年仍影响着成千上万的人，包括儿童，这表明该疾病在人群中仍在持续传播。麻风病的传播可通过包括主动病例发现、接触者追踪和卫生工作者能力建设在内的综合方法加以阻断。
采用横断面研究设计来评估卫生工作者在麻风病筛查和诊断方面的知识、态度和技能。分别有181名和88名卫生保健工作者参与了评估前和评估后的调查。通过访谈和观察清单收集数据。使用频率表和图表来描述研究变量，评估前和评估后调查之间的统计学显著性以P值<0.05表示。
在评估前的调查中，具备良好知识、积极态度和技能的卫生保健工作者的比例分别为61.2%、55.6%和51.7%，在评估后的调查中分别为77.3%、56.3%和75.0%。评估后调查中参与者的知识和技能得分有显著提高（P<0.01）。在活动期间，筛查了3780名索引接触者；570人（15.1%）被诊断患有皮肤病，17例新的麻风病病例被诊断出来（每10000名接触者的病例发现率为45）。
培训提高了卫生保健工作者的知识和技能，通过大规模筛查和主动病例发现检测出大量皮肤病病例。为一线卫生保健工作者提供培训有助于发现更多病例并促进麻风病病例的早期发现。
