Document is current

Article History

Received: 4 March 2026

Accepted: 15 July 2026

First Online: 18 July 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: The required data for this study were obtained from the official DHS website: . The protocol for DHS surveys was approved by the Ethical Review Committee (ERC) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the ICF Institutional Review Board (IRB). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. This study utilized anonymized secondary data available in the public domain of DHS. The DHS program explicitly sought the consent of survey respondents. However, the authors obtained approval from DHS for the reuse of the data. Since the data did not contain identifiable personal data, the DHS approved the reuse of this data without further ethical clearance for this study. The data was accessed on 25th August, 2025. This study adheres to the STROBE guidelines for reporting observational studies.

Consent for publication: Not applicable.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.