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Article History

Received: 23 May 2024

Accepted: 13 June 2025

First Online: 9 July 2025

Declarations

:

: Ethical approval for this study was not required, as the analysis is based on fully anonymized secondary data obtained from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), specifically the Ghana Living Standards Survey Round 7. According to the Ghana Microdata Dissemination Policy, only anonymized Public Use Files (PUFs) are released to researchers, with all direct and indirect personal identifiers removed to protect participant confidentiality. Under this policy, the use of such anonymized datasets for research purposes does not require additional Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval []. Permission to use the data was formally granted by GSS. All analyses in this study were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.