Okelo, Kenneth http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6754-602X
Nampijja, Margaret
Ilboudo, Patrick
Muendo, Ruth
Oloo, Linda
Muyingo, Sylvia
Mwaniki, Elizabeth
Langat, Nelson
Onyango, Silas
Sipalla, Florence
Kitsao-Wekulo, Patricia
Article History
Received: 5 October 2021
Accepted: 4 July 2022
First Online: 15 July 2022
Competing interests
: The authors declare no competing interests.
: We received ethical approval for this study protocol from the Amref Health Africa’s Ethics and Scientific Review Committee (ESRC) (Ref.: P970/2021 on 28 June 2021) and a study permit from the National Commission for Science, Technology, and Innovation (NACOSTI). We have also received permission to carry out the study in Nakuru County from the Nakuru County and sub-County governments. The investigators completed training on human subject protection in research and will observe the guidelines and principles of research on human participants during the study period. The data collection team will be carefully trained on research ethics including full disclosure, respect for persons, seeking informed consent, and confidentiality to minimize harm to the respondents. All data will be kept confidential and personal identifiers will be removed from analytical datasets and replaced with a number. Databases will be password-protected to control access to non-authorized persons. All investigators, field supervisors, interviewers, data translators, and analysis personnel will also sign a confidentiality agreement before getting access to the data. The form states that the data collectors will keep the data safe and will not reveal any identifiable information about study participants.
: Informed consent will be sought from all respondents. An explanation of the study’s purpose will be provided before any data are collected. Following this, a clear and explicit consent process will be conducted, where verbal consent, if given, will be audio-recorded, and the right of the participant to withdraw consent at any time will be explained. In the event that we can use face-to-face interviews, we shall seek written informed consent from the study participants. For those who cannot read, the information sheet will be read to them in Kiswahili (or the language they are most comfortable with) and they will be asked to provide a thumbprint to signify their consent.
: No patients will be involved.