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Article History

Received: 13 January 2025

Accepted: 17 September 2025

First Online: 15 October 2025

Declarations

:

: Ethical approval was obtained from the Faculty of Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee, University of Pretoria, South Africa (281/2023), and the Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee (GHS-ERC013/08/23). Written authorization was obtained from the Ghana Prison Service’s Headquarters for data collection at the Ankarful Prisons (HRG/0183/V.5/23/164/875). Informed consent was obtained from all study participants prior to their inclusion in the study. All study procedures adhered to ethical guidelines and regulations delineated in the Declaration of Helsinki.

: All the study participants provided written informed consent to publish the research findings. All authors agree to this submission.

: EMM declares that he is employed by Abbott Rapid Diagnostics, the manufacturer of the Bioline™ HCV POC, as a Scientific Affairs Manager for Africa and a co-supervisor to ED. He, therefore, acknowledges that he is aware of his responsibility to take the necessary steps to take reasonable steps to avoid any potential or perceived conflict of interest during his co-supervision duties in this study. Moreover, as a co-supervisor, his contributions and decisions were reviewed and approved by TM-T, the main supervisor of the study. All authors declare no other conflict of interest.