Accessibility of social entitlements by leprosy affected living in different localities: Leprosy colonies and the general community in 4 states of India

Objective: To study the level of access to general and specific entitlements for people affected by leprosy and to compare the level of access available to those living in leprosy colonies and general communities, among the four states Uttar Pradesh (UP), Chhattisgarh (CG), Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Tamil Nadu (TN) within India. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study. A total sample size of 379 included 100 from UP, 100 from CG, 101 from AP and 78 from TN, of which 161 were from leprosy colonies and 218 from the general community. The study is the outcome of the baseline survey carried out from 2016 to 2017 for the CREATE Project. Results: The study clearly shows that the largest difference in accessibility to general schemes between leprosy colonies and the general community was found in the state of UP (4 schemes) and is comparatively less in CG (3 schemes) with the lowest difference being found in the states of AP (2 schemes) and TN (1 scheme). With regards to specific schemes, UP once again had the greatest difference in accessibility (7 schemes) followed by AP (5 schemes) with the least difference being found in the states of CG (3 schemes) and TN (1 Scheme). Conclusions: The study concludes that accessibility differences among the four states from maximum to minimum in order is UP, CG, AP and TN, indicating the influence of local demographic and cultural factors on the accessibility process required for state specific approaches. Overall the colony dwellers have better access to both the general and specific schemes when compared to those living in the general community.