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Article History

Received: 27 September 2021

Accepted: 25 April 2022

First Online: 2 May 2022

Declarations

:

: All the methods were performed in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. Formal approval to conduct the study was obtained from Human Research Ethics Committee-Medical of the University of Witwatersrand (Clearance Certificate Number M190601). Permission to use the data was obtained from the SRHR-HIV Knows no Borders Project consortium. The SRHR-HIV knows no Borders Project consortium obtained ethics approval from the relevant authorities in each country. In Lesotho, ethics approval was obtained from the Ministry of Education and Training (reference number: ED/G/44) and the Ministry of Health (reference number: ID07-2018). In Malawi it was obtained from the National commission for Science and Technology (reference number: NCST/RTT/2/6). Ethics approval in Mozambique was obtained from National committee for Bioethics (reference number: 226/CNBS/18) and the office of the Minister-Administrative approval (reference number: 1596/GMS/002/2018). In South Africa, it was obtained from the Department of health Mpumalanga (reference number: MP_201809_003) and the Research and Postgraduate directorate (reference number: SMUREC/E/242/2018:CR). In Eswatini, ethics approval was obtained from the Ministry of Health-Health Research review board (no reference). Ethics approval in Zambia was obtained from The National Health Research Authority, Lusaka and ERES Converge Research Ethics Board (no reference number).The extracted data did not contain any personal identifiers hence the privacy and confidentiality of respondents was guaranteed. Participants were provided with information sheets containing details of the study. Participation in the study was voluntary and did not involve any risks. Informed consent was obtained from willing participants and from parents/guardians for participants who were below the age of 18 years by signature or thumbprint.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interest.