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Article History

Received: 24 November 2023

Accepted: 23 May 2024

First Online: 11 June 2024

Declarations

:

: All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. For procedural ethics, the General Research Ethics Board (GREB), Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada (Ref: GGEOPL-344-22) and the Committee on Human Research Publication and Ethics (CHRPE), School of Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana (Ref: CHRPE/AP/182/22) approved the study protocol. Further, the Ashanti Regional Health Directorate under the Ghana Health Service approved the study site (Ref: GHS/ASH/RES/V.2) to begin the data collection exercise. Verbal and informed written consent was sought from the participants. The procedure for obtaining verbal informed consent was approved by the ethics committee/institutional review board. We further confirm that for illiterate participants, informed consent to participate in the study was obtained from their legal guardians. Participants were assured of strict confidentiality and anonymity of the data they provided. The participation of the respondents in the study was also voluntary.

: Not applicable.

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: Williams Agyemang-Duah is a Section Editor of the Archives of Public Health, BMC. All other authors declare no conflict of interest.