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Article History

Received: 1 July 2024

Accepted: 10 July 2024

First Online: 4 September 2024

Declarations

:

: The study will be carried out according to the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation 679/2016, all applicable regulations and according to established international scientific standards.This study has received ethics approval first from the Institutional Review Boards of the Institute of Tropical Medicine (reference numbers: 1656/23 and 1672/23) and then from the Ethical Clearance Committee at Addis Ababa Regional Health Bureau, Ethiopia (reference number: A/A/H/10932/229), and Comité National D’éthique Pour la Recherche en Santé en Guinée, Guinea (reference number: 095/CNERS/23).Written permission letters were also sought from local authorities to access health facilities for the first round survey and key-informant interviews. No participants were enrolled, or participant related activities were performed before written approval from these bodies was obtained. Written consents will be sought from all participants of the study. Separate plain language statements prepared in local languages will be used for both types of participants (women and key-informants). To make sure that women with low literacy level understand what the study is about, the data collectors will provide a one-by-one explanation of contents of the plain language statement. For participants willing to participate in the study, a consent form prepared in local languages will be used to seek their written consent. In Ethiopia, emancipated minors "minors working or earn their living, married, parenting—may be allowed to give an informed consent or an institutional review board may decide a waiver of consent” []. In Guinea, only married adolescents are considered as emancipated minors and are allowed to give an informed consent []. Accordingly, if we come across eligible pregnant women between 15–18 years in Addis Ababa, they will be asked to give their written consent before participating in the study. However, we will not invite unmarried pregnant women less than 18 years old in Conakry to participate in the study as they are not eligible to give informed consent.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.