{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,24]],"date-time":"2026-09-24T02:06:28Z","timestamp":1790215588700,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"AOSIS","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,19]],"date-time":"2024-12-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1734566400000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background:\u00a0A lack of awareness, poor quality of care, and gender inequalities are factors associated with access and utilisation of leprosy services.\n\nObjectives:\u00a0This study aimed to identify factors affecting community access and utilisation of leprosy services in high-burden districts of Ethiopia.\n\nMethod:\u00a0A community-based cross-sectional study design was utilised and a simple random sampling technique was used to recruit study respondents. One hundred and sixty-one respondents completed the self-administered structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 26. A logistic regression model was used to identify predictors associated with leprosy services. A\u00a0p-value &lt; 0.05 was considered statistically significant.\n\nResults:\u00a0More than 75% (n\u00a0= 123) of study respondents had limited knowledge about leprosy. However, respondents who reside in urban areas were knowledgeable about the disease (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 8.2; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.6, 42.0). Men were most likely to use health care facilities (AOR [95% CI] = 2.9 [1.2, 7.2]). In addition, those who had better household income were more likely to have examined their family members for leprosy compared to low-income families (AOR [95% CI] = 4.5 [1.6, 12.9]).\n\nConclusion:\u00a0General knowledge about leprosy was low in communities. However, persons infected with leprosy who resided in the urban areas had a better understanding of leprosy. Male persons infected with leprosy were more likely to utilise leprosy services.\n\nContribution:\u00a0The results of this study provide early insights into the factors associated with leprosy service utilisation to provide community-centred leprosy care.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4102\/sajid.v39i1.664","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,19]],"date-time":"2024-12-19T07:30:40Z","timestamp":1734593440000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4102\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Access and utilisation of leprosy healthcare services in high-burden districts in Ethiopia"],"prefix":"10.4102","volume":"39","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1965-2837","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Solomon S.","family":"Marrye","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/048cwvf49","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7228-4183","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simangele","family":"Shakwane","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/048cwvf49","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}],"name":"University of South Africa"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2580","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref0","unstructured":"Andrew K, Kadala M. 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