Ahabwe, Onesmus Magezi
Kabanda, Taseera
Abesiga, Lenard
Mugisha, Julius
Kayondo, Musa
Ngonzi, Joseph
Tugume, Rodgers
Agaba, Collins David
Byamukama, Onesmus
Tibaijuka, Leevan
Lugobe, Henry Mark
Article History
Received: 1 February 2023
Accepted: 30 October 2023
First Online: 6 November 2023
Declarations
:
: Ethical approvals were obtained from the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) Research Ethics Committee (Reference Number: 25/10–20) and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST) number HS1456ES. Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants, and we ensured confidentiality during all interviews and sample collection and used study identification numbers but not the names of the participants. Our target population included participants below 16 years of age; however, the participants we obtained were all above this age. We had set out to obtain informed consent from the parents/legal guardians of participants below 16 years of age if we had obtained any such participant. For participants with no formal education, we translated the informed consent tool into the local language, and we explained the consent document in the language that these participants understood and that their consent was by thumb print.All methods were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations.
: Not applicable.
: The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
: The authors declare no competing interests.