Disease Mapping of Leprosy in Maluku Province, 2019 using Hierarchical Bayes

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic disease caused by Mycobacterium.lepreae that affects the nerves of the extremities, skin, nasal mucosa, and upper respiratory tract. As of today, some countries include Indonesia facing difficulties to fight leprosy. The health ministry of Indonesia noted that the majority of leprosy cases occurred in the eastern region, like Maluku Province. Therefore disease mapping is needed to develop a map of leprosy so that the handling of this disease could operate optimally, especially in Maluku. One of the disease mapping techniques is Hierarchical Bayes (HB), which involves a measure of uncertainty compared to other methods such as Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR). The results showed that the relative risk of leprosy in Maluku was almost the same in each region. It indicates that the disease is prevalent in Maluku, with the highest value in Ambon City and the lowest value in the Aru Islands.