LAY REPORTING OF ELEPHANTIASIS OF THE LEG IN NORTHERN GHANA

Within a large scale community trial in northern Ghana lay interviewer s were trained to enquire about and identify elephantiasis of the leg by the use of local terms and simple examination of respondents. This was repeated a year later after moving the interviewers to different g eographical areas. The proportions of extended family compounds report ed to have at least one member with elephantiasis of the leg were 12.2 % and 12.1% respectively in the first and second surveys (kappa=0.60). 'Blind' re-examination of a sub-sample by a physician showed a high l evel of agreement with the lay interviewer's findings in the first and second surveys (kappa=0.67 and 0.82 respectively). This study has sho wn that lay people, even with minimal training, can obtain repeatable and valid estimates of the prevalence of elephantiasis of the leg, at least within an area where local terms for the condition are available . This method could potentially be used for other diseases with visibl e manifestations.