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Article History

Received: 22 January 2026

Accepted: 23 April 2026

First Online: 30 April 2026

Declarations

:

: The PDHS 2017–18 followed ethical guidelines established by the National Bioethics Committee of Pakistan and ICF Institutional Review Board. Informed consent was obtained from all participating respondents prior to data collection. For child-level data, permission for anthropometric measurements was obtained from the child’s parent or primary caregiver. As the present study is based on publicly available, anonymised dataset, no additional ethical approval was required. The authors adhered to all ethical principles in the use and reporting of PDHS data.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.