OBJECTIVE:

To analyze the spatiotemporal distribution of leprosy and the primary care services coverage in Belém, Pará State, Brazil, from 2006 to 2015.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A ecological study was conducted with data analysis from Information System on Diseases of Compulsory Declaration (Sinan) and Primary Care Disorders System of Brazilian Ministry of Health. A total of 3,921 new case records were included. Clinical-epidemiological data including the spatial distribution of the disease detection rate were investigated. Microsoft Excel® was used for data tabulation, BioEstat and SPSS for statistical tests, and Qgis for maps generation.

RESULTS:

Leprosy patients were generally male (58.07%), 20 to 59 years old (67.66%), and with less than four years of schooling (43.82%). Most of them had multibacillary leprosy (62.69%), with predominance of the borderline clinical form (39.56%). The trend of general detection was regressive due to the increase in coverage of Basic Health Units (BHU). The association with some degree of physical disability was significant for age, education, contacts, injuries and operational classification (p < 0.0001). Hyperendemic areas corresponded to 37% of the units of analysis. The analysis of local spatial autocorrelation identified clusters in four neighborhoods of Belém.

CONCLUSION:

The findings indicated priority hyperendemic areas for prevention and control actions, as well as the need to increase the coverage of Family Health Strategy services and better geographical distribution of BHUs, in order to facilitate access to prevention and control measures for the disease.

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