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Article History

Received: 16 November 2025

Accepted: 27 March 2026

First Online: 6 April 2026

Declarations

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: This study was conducted in full accordance with the ethical principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki. All participants (or their legal guardians, where applicable) provided informed consent prior to enrolment. Ethical approval for this study was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp (Reference: 1636/22) and the Ethics Committee of the University of Antwerp (Reference: 5168). In Ghana, approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital (CCTHERC/EC/2022/167), with additional permission from the Ghana Health Service. In Nigeria, the study was approved by the Health Research Ethics Committee of the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Training Centre, Zaria (NTBLTCZ/HREC/F18/2024). In Niger, approval was obtained from the National Ethics Committee for Health Research (CNERS) under Reference N°31/2022/CNERS, as well as from ITM (Reference: 1583/22). Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before inclusion in the study, with consent administered by trained healthcare workers involved in the patients’ care at the time of enrolment. All data collected were pseudonymised to protect participant confidentiality and ensure compliance with ethical standards for human subject research.

: Written informed consent for publication was obtained during the informed consent process.

: The authors declare no competing interests.