McEwen, Fiona S.
Popham, Cassandra
Moghames, Patricia
Smeeth, Demelza
de Villiers, Bernadette
Saab, Dahlia
Karam, Georges
Fayyad, John
Karam, Elie
Pluess, Michael http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5071-2047
Funding for this research was provided by:
eunice kennedy shriver national institute of child health and human development (R01HD083387)
Article History
Received: 14 July 2021
Accepted: 6 January 2022
First Online: 18 January 2022
Declarations
:
: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.
: The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable standards. Ethical approval was granted by the Institutional Review Board of the University of Balamand/Saint George Hospital University Medical Center, Lebanon (ref: IRB/O/024-16/1815). The study was also reviewed by the Lebanese National Consultative Committee on Ethics and approved by the Ministry of Public Health.
: Informed consent was obtained from all individual adult caregivers included in the study and assent was obtained from children. The consent procedure was adapted to account for low literacy: the study was explained verbally by trained research staff, supported by a written information sheet and a simplified ‘easy read’ version of the information sheet with photos demonstrating sample collection. Research staff checked participants’ understanding of the study, addressed misunderstandings, answered questions and discussed concerns.