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Article History

Received: 20 November 2018

Accepted: 23 May 2019

First Online: 30 May 2019

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: This study was allocated to Approval No. 11 by the Benin’s National Ethics Committee on March 30, 2017. Prior to blood collection, generally the day before sampling in a school, information notes and consent forms were sent home to parents whose children were within the age groups to be investigated. Only children whose parents return a signed consent form were included in the sample. In addition, on the collection day, an explanation session led by the biologist head of the collection team was held with the eligible school children under the supervision of the classroom teacher and the school’s head teacher. The information note and the explanation session enabled the children and their parents to understand the purpose and the procedure of the study. It also enabled children to object to the collection even if their parents had given approval. The heads of PTA and the head teacher of each participating school were also required to sign a consent note, on behalf of all participating schoolchildren, prior to any blood sample collection.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.