Marcus, Rebecca
C, Pike
Gill, K.
Smith, P.
Rouhani, S.
Mendelsohn, A.
Mendel, E.
Lince-Deroche, N.
Naidoo, K.
Ahmed, N.
Stirrup, O.
Roseleur, J.
Leuner, R.
Meyer-Rath, G.
Bekker, L. G.
Article History
Received: 17 October 2022
Accepted: 25 September 2023
First Online: 10 October 2023
Declarations
:
: Ethical approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Science (Ref 339/2016). The need for parental informed consent was waived by the UCT HREC on that basis that young people access these health services, including HIV testing, routinely without need for parental consent (as per the SA National Children’s Act of 2005) and obtaining parental consent may have presented a barrier to participation. This follows recommendations that adolescents should be enrolled in socially valuable research that poses acceptable risks, as per South African Department of Health guidelines and regulations. The SA DOH 2015 guidelines makes provision for a self-consent approach when the research is considered of a sensitive nature (such as when related to SRH), the risks are considered minimal, the child is older (i.e. upper age range of adolescence), and community stakeholders support the approach [CitationRef removed]. As such, all individuals therefore gave independent voluntary informed consent regardless of age. The YC adolescent and adult community advisory board (CAB) reviewed and supported the study. All procedures were performed in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.
: Not applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.