02009nas a2200277   4500000000100000008004100001260001700042653002100059653001100080653001000091653001500101653001200116653001900128653001500147653001400162100001200176700001600188700001600204700001600220245006300236300001100299490000700310050003200317520136800349022001401717       1984                            d  c1984 Oct-Dec10aHealth Education10aHumans10aIndia10aLeadership10aleprosy10aPublic Opinion10aVolunteers10aWorkforce1 aKumar A1 aThangavel N1 aDurgambal K1 aAnbalagan M00aCommunity leaders involvement in leprosy health education.  a901-110 v56  aInfolep Library - available3 a<p>As an alternative approach, 310 community leaders consisting of village political leaders, school teachers, Govt. staff, members of socio-welfare and religious agencies, graduate students and traders from 21 villages of Chingleput district of Tamilnadu (India) were interviewed to explore the possibilities of their involvement in leprosy health education community. Though majority (76%) of respondents were not fully aware about various aspects of leprosy and showed negative reactions (51%) towards leprosy patients; almost all realised the importance of educating community about leprosy for its early control, for which a large majority (88%) of them had expressed their willingness to participate in leprosy health education and control programme by devoting an average of 4.4 +/- 5.4 hours per week. A good number (54%) of them had also been educating people about leprosy in one or the other way. The leaders who had been exposed to leprosy health education especially in recent past, were significantly better equipped with knowledge about leprosy and its control and were much more willing to participate in NLCP, than others. Study concluded that if the community leaders are approached, educate and motivated properly, they would certainly involve themselves to provide a valuable strength to our leprosy health education and control programme.</p>  a0254-9395