The nurse and the theme of leprosy in the school context: case studies - La enfermera y el tema de la lepra en el contexto escolar: estudios de caso.

Objective: Assessing the knowledge of students about Hansen’s disease and providing health education actions.

Method: Case studies on the implementation of extension activity focused on health education about leprosy, held in a public school, involving 190 high school students, aged between 16 and 23 years old, of both sexes. Ethical principles for research involving human subjects were considered after approval by the Committee of Ethics in Research, opinion No. 072/09 and CAAE 00780051000-09.

Results: It was demonstrated that the activities of health education targeted at school, with an emphasis on leprosy, are of fundamental importance, because it denotes the appropriation of disease-related knowledge. Conclusion: The meling about leprosy can contribute to the dissemination of such knowledge, since the school may feel encouraged to disclose information to others, such as family