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Article History

Received: 26 July 2023

Accepted: 4 June 2025

First Online: 1 July 2025

Declarations

:

: This study, conducted in response to a national public health emergency, was approved under a memorandum of understanding and an umbrella protocol (project ID: 0900f3eb81f96394); the study was waived the full Institutional Review Board (IRB) review. The Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program, part of the National Rapid Response Team, was authorized by the Ministry of Health to access and analyze surveillance data from the District Health Information System-2, along with other relevant data, to inform outbreak control and public health programs. The Ministry also granted permission for the dissemination of findings through scientific publications. In agreement with the International Guidelines for Ethical Review of Epidemiological Studies by the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (1991) [] and the Office of the Associate Director for Science, CDC/Uganda, it was determined that this activity was not human subject research and that its primary intent was public health practice or disease control activity (specifically, epidemic or endemic disease control activity). The authors sought administrative clearance to conduct the investigation from the District Health authorities of Hoima District. Clearance was also sought from the administrators of the health facilities to access data about patients who had visited the facility or been admitted with a scabies diagnosis. Verbal informed consent was obtained from the participants before the start of each interview. Parental/legal guardian verbal informed consent was obtained on behalf of all the children before the start of each interview since they were aged less than 10 years. Data which was collected did not contain individual personal identifiers as a way of ensuring confidentiality. Individuals who were clinically diagnosed with scabies were given benzyl benzoate lotion 25% to apply to the whole body from the scalp to the soles of the feet as per Uganda clinical guidelines [].

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.