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Article History

Received: 31 December 2025

Accepted: 20 August 2026

First Online: 27 August 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of the College of Public Health, Mattu University (Reference No. RCSIL/342/16). Formal letters of cooperation were provided to the Addis Ababa Health Bureau and the three participating hospitals. The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Given the socio-cultural context and the predominantly low-literacy study population, informed verbal consent was obtained after the study purpose, procedures, risks, and participant rights were fully explained in participants’ local language (Amharic). Verbal consent was approved by the IRB in recognition of the low literacy rate among participants. Participation was entirely voluntary, participants could withdraw at any time without consequences, and no personal identifiers were recorded to protect confidentiality. Participants were reassured that their TB treatment and follow-up would not be affected by study participation.

Consent for publication: Not applicable.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.