Introduction: podoconiosis is a, non-infective, chronic disease characterized by therndevelopment of persistent swelling of plantar foot which progresses to the dorsum of the footrnand encompasses lower leg slowly. Wolaita Zone is highly exposed to crystalline substancesrnand the prevalence of podoconiosis exceeds 5.0%. People with podoconiosis and theirrnfamilies bear a range of negative social impacts as a consequence of having podoconiosis.rnObjectives: to assess knowledge, attitudes and practices of community and healthrnprofessionals towards podoconiosis in Wolaita Zone.rnMethods: a quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2007. Communityrnparticipants were selected by multistage probability sampling while health professionals werernselected purposively. Structured, piloted and scrutinized questionnaires were used for datarncollection. Data were then entered into EPI/INFO V6.04 and exported to SPSS V11.5 forrnanalysis.rnResults: most (91.6%) of community respondents knew about podoconiosis. Misconceptionsrnabout causation ranged from 9.3-62.9% and about prevention methods ranged from 52.0%-rn64.9%. Only 21.4% and 11.4% knew that matting floors and cementing floors could preventrnpodoconiosis, respectively. Nearly 46.0% of community respondents had low knowledgernabout podoconiosis. About 37.1-55.7% showed stigmatizing and discriminating attitudesrntowards social interactions with podoconiosis patients, and 63.8% had unfavorable attituderntowards podoconiosis. Around 86.1% had ever worn shoes and 54.2% were wearing shoesrnduring interview.rnOnly 58.2% of health professionals (HPs) knew that podoconiosis is caused by soil particles.rnHPs misconceptions about causes of podoconiosis ranged from 37.1%-61.3%. Majorityrn(54.3%) had low knowledge score about podoconiosis. Working in a private health facilityrnwas negatively associated with the general knowledge score of HPs (P