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Article History

Received: 27 June 2025

Accepted: 22 September 2025

First Online: 28 November 2025

Declarations

:

: The study was conducted in line with the Declaration of Helsinki –Ethical Principles for Medical Research involving Human Subjects [ ]. Ethical approval was obtained under the general approval in [ ] from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the University for Development Studies, Tamale (UDS/RB/004/21) with additional administrative permission from the Research and Development Department of the TTH (TTH/R&D/SR/045).A written informed consent was sought from all participants. An informed consent was sought from participants (mothers) by a clear explanation of the study aim, potential benefits, compensations and harms. Participants were allowed to ask questions concerning the study and satisfactory appropriate feedback were given. Participants were made subsequently made to indicate their readiness and willingness to participate in the study verbally and also through a written informed consent by thumbprinting or signing the participant consent form.Participation was voluntary and signing an agreed consent form did not bind them legally and they were at liberty to cease to participate in the study or data collection process if they felt that their rights were infringed upon. Participants’ information was treated as confidential and private. As such the data has not, and will not be shared to any third party for the purpose of monetary gains. Again, no direct identifiers, including names, patients’ identification numbers of participants were captured in the dataset.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.