Abstract

Introduction: Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease which still remains a serious public health problem due to its ability to cause disability. The prevention of leprosy ultimately lies in the early diagnosis and treatment of the individuals having leprosy. Changing leprosy scenario has led to requirement of leprosy education. However the knowledge of medical college students on leprosy remains unknown.

Aim: To assess the presensitization knowledge and awareness of medical students before state leprosy sensitization program.

Materials and Methods: A questionnaire based, cross sectional study was conducted among 135 medical students of different years starting from 2^nd year and onwards in the month of july 2017 before state leprosy sensitization program .

Results: Among the medical students 90(67%) were male students and 45(33%) were female students coming from different years of their admission in medical college .Regarding the basic knowledge of leprosy 100 % of 3^nd year and final year students were having knowledge about the cause of leprosy and 100% and 78% of final year and 3^rd year medical students know about other name  of Leprosy   (Hansen,s disease) respectively.100% ,92% and 79% of final year ,3^rd year and 2^nd year medical students had knowledge about multidrug therapy (MDT) in in-depth knowledge of leprosy respectively. Regarding the virulence of bacilli 77%,43% and 44% of final ,3^rd and 2nd year medical students had apt knowledge respectively.

Conclusion: These observations suggest that the basic and in-depth knowledge of medical students about cause, types, prevention and treatment etc. of leprosy shows increasing trend owing to the part of their curriculum. However there is still a need to organize sensitization programs at regular intervals to impart basic and in-depth knowledge to new medical students, as well as to update the knowledge of those who already had such sensitization programs.