Document is current

Article History

Received: 11 October 2024

Accepted: 31 December 2025

First Online: 12 January 2026

Declarations

:

: The Demographic Health Survey (DHS) collects nationally representative data on health and population, and it has started since 1984. The DHS is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by ICF International. The DHS is also affiliated with the United Children’s Fund, the United Nations Population Fund, the World Health Organization, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. The data used in this study were obtained from the 2022 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS), which was approved by the Ghana Health Service Ethical Review Committee and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of ICF International. According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), "Ghana Statistics Service submitted the survey protocol to the Ethical Review Committee (ERC) of the Ghana Health Service to ensure that the survey procedures were in accordance with Ghana’s ethical research standards. The ERC approved ethical clearance for the survey. ICF submitted the GDHS survey protocol to the ICF Institutional Review Board (IRB) to obtain ethical clearance, assuring that the survey procedures are in accordance with US and international ethical research standards. The IRB approved ethical clearance for the survey.” Informed consent was obtained from all participants, and their confidentiality was safeguarded. For participants younger than 16, informed consent was obtained from their parents or legal guardians as part of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey protocol. As the analysis was based on de-identified, publicly available data, no further ethical review was required.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.