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Article History

Received: 1 December 2017

Accepted: 26 February 2019

First Online: 1 April 2019

Ethics approval and consent to participate

: Ethical clearance was obtained from ERES CONVERGE (Ref.No.2015-May-014) in Zambia. Permission and authority to conduct the study was obtained from the Senior Medical Superintendent at the teaching hospital. Informed voluntary consent was obtained from all the participants before collecting any data. Participants consented to participate in the study by providing their thump print on the consent form. Thump print consent was appropriate as most of the participants could not sign on the consent form and this is in line with the ethics policy in Zambia. Permission to check their medical record files for socio-demographic characteristics and type of orthopaedic condition was sought from the participants and hospital administration. The participants were briefed on the study objectives, procedures, risks, benefits and schedule. In order to assure anonymity and confidentiality, the names of the participants were not recorded in the questionnaires.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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