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Article History

Received: 29 January 2023

Accepted: 27 June 2024

First Online: 3 July 2024

Declarations

:

: All the respondents participated voluntarily in the study and all the participants provided informed written consent. For illiterate participants, the information (information regarding the purpose of the study, the procedure, information regarding the researcher, and the risks and benefits of participation) was read by the principal investigator in the presence of an impartial literate witness who spoke the language and a fingerprint was taken before participation in the study. The method of obtaining informed consent from the illiterate participants was approved by the Board of Study in Community Medicine, Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo and the Ethical Review Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. All measures were taken to ensure that the Declaration of Helsinki was adequately addressed throughout the study and all the methods were carried out in accordance with the relevant guidelines and regulations. The ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Ethical Review Committee of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo (Reference no: EC-19-055).

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.