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Article History

Received: 13 April 2017

Accepted: 20 October 2017

First Online: 9 November 2017

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: The study was approved by the Committee on Human Research, Publications and Ethics of the School of Medical Sciences of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana, as well as by the Ethics Committee of the University Hospital of Bonn, Germany. Permission was also obtained from the Nzema East and Ahanta West District Health Directorates, Ghana.Before commencement of recruitment and sample collection, meetings were held in the study communities to explain in detail the purpose and procedures of the study. The inconveniences involved, such as blood sampling, were also explained to the participants. Verbal consent to perform the study in the villages was obtained from community leaders, i.e., chiefs and elders of the selected communities, and written informed consent was obtained from all participants. The study was undertaken according to the principles of the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (as revised 2008).

: Consent to publish was obtained from the participants and the guardians of participants below 18 years of age who are considered in Ghana as minors at the time of recruitment into the study.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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