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Article History

Received: 28 April 2026

Accepted: 21 September 2026

First Online: 25 September 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: Ethical approval for the study protocol was sought from and granted by the Makerere University School of Medicine Research and Ethics Committee under number: Mak-SOMREC-2024-1156. Administrative clearance to conduct this study was sought from and granted by the Head of the Clinical Epidemiology Unit (CEU) of Makerere University, Directorate of Education and Social Services of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) through the Town Clerk, Kawempe division and the headteachers of the schools.Written consent forms that contain all the information about the study were distributed to parents/guardians of pupils that met the inclusion criteria. Parents/guardians were briefed about the study by the teachers and were requested to read and understand the information before agreeing to allow their children to participate in the study. Parents/guardians were requested to contact the school, teacher or the PI (whose contact was provided on the forms) in case they sought clarification about the study and any information provided in the consent document.The study was conducted in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements, as well as general principles in the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human participants and the Declaration of Helsinki. The authors confirm that the ethical policies of the journal, as noted on the journal’s author guidelines page, have been adhered to.

Consent for publication: Not applicable.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.