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Article History

Received: 23 February 2026

Accepted: 4 September 2026

First Online: 20 September 2026

Declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate: All procedures complied with the 2013 Declaration of Helsinki and relevant national guidelines.The study protocol received ethical clearance from the Faculty of Medicine Research Committee and the Mbarara University of Science and Technology Research Ethics Committee (MUST-2024-1537). Administrative clearance and authorization to access facility data were obtained from Ntungamo district administration. Written informed consent was obtained from each participant for the FGDs at enrollment and separate consent for audio recording was also obtained. Before the start of interviews, the moderator emphasized to participants their voluntary participation and right to withdraw and leave at any time. A waiver of consent was obtained to gain access to the VMMC records. Confidentiality was safeguarded by replacing personal identifiers with unique study codes, storing the linkage file separately on password-protected computers with restricted access, and keeping paper records in locked cabinets. For record review, only the researcher and research assistants had access to the records of men who underwent VMMC.

Consent for publication: Not applicable.

Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.