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Article History

Received: 23 April 2024

Accepted: 19 November 2024

First Online: 28 November 2024

Declarations

:

: Informed consent to participate in the study was not required from the participants in the study because the data collection involved retrospective analysis of PLWHA records, and no direct contact with the PLWHA was required. According to national regulations and ethical guidelines, this type of research, which poses minimal risk to participants and involves pre-existing data, does not require individual consent. The study utilized anonymized data from PLWHA ' files, ensuring that personal identifiers were not disclosed. However, the study has received Ethical Approval (Approval number: BREC/00004657/2022) from the Biomedical Research Ethics Committee (BREC) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Ethics Approval Board Institutional Review Board according to national regulations. In addition, a gatekeeper letter to conduct the study was obtained from the Healthcare facility as well.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.