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Article History

Received: 3 May 2017

Accepted: 3 November 2017

First Online: 21 November 2017

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: Ethical approval was obtained from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (no. 8891–1) and national ethics review committees in the six countries as listed below;Kisumu (Kenya): ethical approval was obtained from the Scientific and Ethics Review Unit of the Kenya Medical Research Institute (Ethics reference number: NON-SSC-397).Nairobi (Kenya): ethical approval was obtained from Kenyatta National Hospital/University of Nairobi Ethics and Research Committee (Ethics reference number: P552/11/2013).Karonga (Malawi): ethical approval was obtained from National Health Sciences Research Committee of Malawi (Ethics reference number: Protocol # 1174).Umkhanyakude (South Africa): ethical approval was obtained from the Biomedical Research Ethics Committee at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal (Ethics reference number: BE400/14).Agincourt (South Africa): ethical approval was obtained from the Human Research Ethics Review Committee at University of the Witwatersrand (Ethics reference number: M130555).Kisesa (Tanzania): ethical approval was obtained from the Medical Research Coordinating Committee of the National Institute for Medical Research (Ethics reference number: NIMR/HQ/R.8c/vol.1/280).Ifakara (Tanzania): ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Review Board at Ifakara Health Institute (Ethics reference number: IHI/IRB/AMM/No.10–2013).Masaka and Rakai (Uganda): ethical approval was obtained from the Research and Ethics Committee of the Uganda Virus Research Institute, and from the Uganda National Council of Science and Technology (UNCST reference: HS1502).Manicaland (Zimbabwe): The protocol for the Manicaland HIV/STD Prevention Project was approved by the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe (02187), the Biomedical Research and Training Institute’s Internal Review Board, Zimbabwe (AP6/97), and Imperial College London’s Research Ethics Committee (Ethics reference number: ICREC 9_3_13).All participants provided written consent prior to participating in this study.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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