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Article History

Received: 24 June 2025

Accepted: 5 January 2026

First Online: 24 January 2026

Declarations

:

: This study is based entirely on secondary data from the National Family Health Survey [ ], conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, under the stewardship of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India. The NFHS-5 survey protocol received ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of IIPS and the ICF Institutional Review Board, USA. No additional ethical approval was required for this analysis as it involves publicly available, anonymized data.

: Not applicable. The study uses de-identified, publicly accessible secondary data, and all participants in NFHS-5 had provided informed consent at the time of the original survey.

: Not applicable. The manuscript does not contain any individual-level identifiable data.

: The authors declare no competing interests.