Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease that affects physical, psychological, social and environmental domain of life of the victims. They have low quality of life but efforts have been made to treat the victims and rehabilitate them to improve their quality of life.
Aim: To compare the quality of life of people newly diagnosed with leprosy before treatment and after completion of MDT.
Methods: 44 persons newly diagnosed with leprosy at Qua Iboe Church Leprosy Hospital, Ekpene Obom, Etinan, Akwa Ibom State between January and December 2011 had their quality of life assessed with WHO Bref questionnaire before treatment and after completion of treatment one year later. Result: A total of 44 subjects consisting of 32 males (72.7%) and 12 females (27.3%) newly diagnosed with leprosy were started on multidrug therapy. Subjects in aged group 30-39 years, 37.6%(n= 16) were more than others. 50%(n= 22) of subjects were single. 49.99% of the subjects were satisfied with their health before treatment compared to 63.63% satisfied with their health after treatment with multidrug therapy. 27.28% had rated their quality of life as good before treatment compared to 59.09% that rated their quality of life as good after treatment. Mean score on physical domain was 46.63 before treatment compared to 61.72 after treatment, T test 2.585, p= 0.0133. Mean score on psychological domain was 37.54 before treatment compared to 64.18 after treatment, T test 4.140, p= 0.0002. Mean score on social domain was 44.40 before treatment compared to 63.09 after treatment, T test 2.845, p= 0.0068. Mean score on environmental domain was 37.68 before treatment