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Article History

Received: 12 October 2019

Accepted: 3 March 2020

First Online: 18 March 2020

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: Ethical approval to conduct the study was obtained from the Research Review Committee (RRC) and Ethical Review Committee (ERC) of icddr,b (Protocol Number PR-17088). Administrative approval was obtained from the health managers of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) at the national and local level before data collection. During the training on data collection, data collectors were trained specifically on research ethics and the maintenance of the protection of participants, include through obtaining informed consent. Written informed consent was then obtained from each participant before initiating the interview. The participants were briefed about the objectives of the study and the potential use of the data. Participation in the study was fully voluntary, and the respondents did not receive any compensation for their participation. The participants were informed that they could decline their participation at any point without any penalty. They were then given time to reflect before signing a written informed consent form, in the case of literate participants, or providing a thumb print and audio-recorded verbal consent for participants with limited literacy. Privacy, anonymity and confidentiality of participants were strictly maintained throughout the study. All survey-related information (paper form and electronic data) are kept under lock and key at the central office of icddr,b. All personal identifiers were removed from the dataset before analysis.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.