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Article History

Received: 9 December 2023

Accepted: 10 October 2024

First Online: 21 October 2024

Declarations

:

: The authors secured an ethical clearance for this study before the commencement of the fieldwork. The Kebbi State Health Research Ethics Committee (KSHREC) approved the study with registration number 106:20/2021 (see the supplementary file for the official approval letter). Further, participants consented before the quantitative instrument was administered on an open data kit (ODK). The quantitative data collection ended by default (as programmed on the ODK) once consent was not granted by the participant(s) to proceed with the data collection. For the qualitative aspect of the study, verbal consent was taken before the commencement of the recordings for the FGD sessions and KIIs. Recordings and a qualitative interview tool guide have been provided as additional evidence (see the supplementary file) underscoring the verbal consent taken after clearly explaining the background and the aim of the study.Overall, informed consent was taken from participants for both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the study after participants were duly informed about the study. Also, the participants were informed that the findings of the study shall be used for research and surveillance system improvement only. They were also informed that they were free to opt out of the study at any point in time. Further, none of the participants interviewed was a minor. No invasive procedure was conducted, and indeed, the researchers ensured that the Helsinki Declaration principles of sound ethical research practices were upheld.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.