Barik, Soumen https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9639-0463
Nagdeve, Dewaram A. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6943-4323
Patel, Priyanka https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1708-9446
Singh, Mayank https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5350-6895
Article History
Received: 6 January 2026
Accepted: 20 May 2026
First Online: 8 June 2026
Declarations
:
: This study used publicly available, de-identified secondary data from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5, 2019–21). All NFHS-5 survey protocols were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations. Ethical approval for the NFHS-5 was obtained by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) from its Institutional Ethics Committee and by ICF from the ICF Institutional Review Board. Informed consent was obtained from all participants by the survey agencies at the time of original data collection. As this study involved analysis of anonymized secondary data, no additional ethical approval or participant consent was required.
: The authors declare no competing interests.