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Article History

Received: 4 May 2026

Accepted: 15 September 2026

First Online: 19 September 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Copperbelt University Biomedical Sciences Research Ethics Committee on 05 June 2025 (Ref No. CBU/BREC/25/220) and the National Health Research Authority (NHRA) on 19 June 2025 (Ref No. NHRA8886/19/06/2025). The study was conducted in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki (2013) and relevant national regulatory guidelines. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to enrolment and before the initiation of any study-related procedures. For participants below the age of 16 years, assent was obtained in addition to written informed consent from their parents or legal guardians. Participants were informed of their right to withdraw from the study at any time without any consequences. To ensure confidentiality, all participants were de-identified through the assignment of unique study codes, and no personal identifiers were included in the dataset. All data were handled securely and used solely for research purposes.

Consent for publication: Informed consent was obtained from the participants for publication.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.