Leprosy is an infectious, curable disease, however, with great potential for generating physical
incapacity. Knowing the impact of leprosy in children under 15 allows estimating the level of
transmission, the intensity of the endemic disease and evaluating the effectiveness of health
services in combating this disease, which is more prevalent in poor populations and represents
a growing health problem in the this study analyzed the epidemiological profile of leprosy in
children under 15 years of age and the population coverage of the Family Health Strategy in
the Metropolitan Region of Belém, state of Pará, from 2006 to 2015. Quantitative study with
an ecological study design in a historical series of leprosy cases reported in the years 2006 to
2015, using secondary data from the Ministry of Health's Notifiable Diseases and Basic
Attention Database State of Pará, Brazil. Of the 675 cases, the majority (58.96%) were detected
by referral, predominantly male (55.70%), black + brown (81.63%) and incomplete elementary
school (77.48 %). The most frequent age group (65.09%) was children aged 10 to 14 years,
with a predominance of paucibacillary forms and a higher frequency of dimorphic clinical form.
The evolution of the standardized rate of detection of leprosy in less than 15 years, presented
geographically, showed a high level of hyperendemicity in the municipalities of Castanhal,
which had population coverage of the Consolidated Family Health Strategy and Marituba with
intermediate coverage. It was presented with hyperendemicity in the municipality of Santa
Bárbara do Pará also as a consolidated coverage and very high endemicity in the municipalities
of Ananindeua with intermediate coverage, Belém with incipient coverage, Benevides and
Santa Izabel do Pará with consolidated coverage. The areas of spatial autocorrelation for the
transmission of the disease appeared to form two clusters, the first one involving the
municipalities of Ananindeua, Belém and Benevides and the second one formed by the
municipality of Castanhal located opposite to the first one. The highest densities of mean
detection rates were observed in the municipalities of Marituba that spread to the municipalities
of Ananindeua and Benevides and also in the municipality of Castanhal, representing to some
extent the areas of greatest risk for the transmission of the disease. In the city of Belém, the
capital of the State of Pará, the population coverage of the Family Health Strategy was incipient
in most of the neighborhoods, although in some of the Mosqueiro Island it was consolidated,
contradictorily putting those areas with the highest densities of average detection rates. The
magnitude of the endemic disease, the strength of the morbidity and the tendency of the disease,
indicated by the indicators of epidemiological follow-up remained high and the coverage of the
Family Health Strategy, although consolidated in most municipalities, was not homogeneously
distributed to guarantee universal coverage to the territories , implying in some way with this
epidemiological situation, to affirm that leprosy is a serious public health problem in the
Metropolitan Region of Belem.
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