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Article History

Received: 30 January 2024

Accepted: 31 October 2024

First Online: 13 November 2024

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board, Office of Research Integrity, University of Colorado Boulder. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and accordance with the University of Colorado Boulder guidelines. The review board granted the study an exemption, given that the risk level to study participants was assessed as ‘minimal’.

: Prior to being interviewed, the purpose of the survey was first explained to all survey respondents. They were then told that their participation in the survey was voluntary and anonymous and that they were free to discontinue the interview at any time. They were further informed that some of their answers may be recorded for quality assurance purposes. Their formal consent to participate in the survey was then finally solicited. The survey instrument was programmed in such a way that the enumerators could not progress with the interview unless they recorded that informed consent was provided. Given varying literacy levels among the study population, coupled with the non-intrusive nature of the survey questions, only verbal informed consent was solicited.