Leprosy is an infectious and curable disease, however, with great potential for generating disability. Knowing the impact of leprosy in children under 15 allows us to estimate the level of transmission, the intensity of the endemic and to evaluate the effectiveness of health services in fighting this disease. Objective: To analyze the distribution of leprosy in children under 15 years of age, in the city of Belém-PA, from 2005 to 2014. Methodology: Quantitative research, with a descriptive, cross-sectional, descriptive study of leprosy cases in children under 15 Years of the municipality of Belém-PA, during the period of 2005 through 2014, notified in the Information and Notification System. Results: The study comprised 372 cases, which represented an average proportion of 8.74% in relation to the total cases for the general population. There were predominant cases in males (54.7%), brown color (67.47%) and incomplete elementary school (74.19%). The most frequent age group was between 10 and 14 years old, ranging from 78.13% to 59.26%. Initially, the tuberculoid form predominated and, later, the dimorphous form. The paucibacillary form had a higher occurrence in most years. Routing (61.83%) was the main mechanism for detecting new cases. The rate of leprosy detection tended to decline, both for those younger than 15 years (fall of 6.35 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) and for the general population (fall of 12.23 cases per 100,000 inhabitants). The total hidden prevalence was 45 cases. The degree of physical incapacity II at diagnosis reached values greater than 10% in 2012 alone (14.81%). The evaluation of the incapacities at discharge revealed a high number of uninformed cases and were not evaluated in most of the years studied. The proportion of cure in the population began to fall sharply from 2012, reaching 40.74% in 2014. The home-based contacts examined surpassed 30% in most of the years studied. In relation to treatment abandonment, there were peaks of 12.24% and 7.41% in the years 2007 and 2012. The coverage of the Family Health Strategy was higher in 2009 (23.31%), the year in which the detection rate and prevalence reached the lowest values, respectively, 6.69 / 100 thousand inhabitants and 0.59 / 10 thousand inhabitants. Hyperendemicity occurred in the neighborhoods of Bonfim, São Francisco and Val-de-Cans. The neighborhoods that reached the highest coverage were Val-de-Cans, Carananduba and Águas Negras (between 25.18 and 45.91%). Most neighborhoods with a low detection rate have coverage less than or equal to 8.22%. Conclusion: Leprosy still presents indices of high endemicity in the city of Belém, and the coping with this disease runs through the elaboration of strategies directed to the demographic and epidemiological profile of those affected by the disease.
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