Asfaw, Agize
Behailu, Mifta
Oumer, Abdu
Gebremariam, Tigist
Asefa, Kenzudin
Article History
Received: 21 January 2023
Accepted: 29 June 2023
First Online: 4 July 2023
Declarations
:
: Ethical clearance and approval was obtained from Wolkite University, College of public health and medical sciences ethical clearance review committee (IRB). Permission was obtained from government officials and community leaders of the respective area. All eligible women from household were consulted for voluntariness despite their educational status. In addition, all methods were carried out in accordance with the Ethiopian National Research Ethics Review Guideline Fifth Edition. Written consent was not necessary at least for three reasons: first, methods used for data collection (face-to-face interview) and samples taken from participants (salt and urine samples) were neither hostile nor invasive to the study participants. Secondly, according to the legislative of research ethics in Wolkite University, having verbal consent suffices for non-invasive research procedures. This was approved by the letter issued on 07, March 2021 with the reference number CMHS/5809/13/2021. Thirdly, more than half of the participants were illiterate and cannot read and write. Therefore, it is fair and ethical to inform such participants about the purpose and confidentiality of the information along with their right to refuse. When the participants agree, the interviewers sign on the verbal informed consent form and start the interview. Interviewer’s signature certifies that respondent has given informed consent verbally with full understanding. Finally, the consent was checked and documented by the principal investigator.
: Not Applicable.
: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.