Socioeconomic factors related to leprosy: an integrative literature review.

Leprosy is greatly affected by the social context in which the patient is inserted, the chances of exposure to illness are the result of a set of not only individual aspects, but also of contexts or collective conditions. It is imperative for Nursing, as an essential part of the multiprofessional team entrusted with the care and surveillance of the disease, to recognize these factors to predict unfavorable outcomes and to develop new practices capable of reducing inequities.