Steyn, Petrus S.
Cordero, Joanna Paula
Nai, Dela
Shamba, Donat
Fuseini, Kamil
Mrema, Sigilbert
Habib, Ndema
Nguyen, My Huong
Kiarie, James
Article History
Received: 11 January 2022
Accepted: 30 May 2023
First Online: 28 August 2023
Declarations
:
: The master and country protocols (Project ID A65896) were approved by technical and ethics review committees at the World Health Organization (WHO). The country protocols were reviewed and approved at country level. The Population Council Institutional Review Board (exemption approval—# EX201714) and Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee (GHS-ERC:009/08/2017) approved the Ghana country protocol. In Tanzania, the protocol was approved by Ifakara Health Institute Institutional Review Board (IHI/IRB/No:18–2018 and IHI/IRB/AMM/No:03–2019) and the National Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) review board (NIMR/HQ/R.8a/Vol.IX/2668), and the NIMR/Mbeya Medical Research and Ethics Review Committee (GB.152/377/01/214a). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.All study participants underwent informed consent procedures. For adolescents, the consenting/assenting and interviewing were done using a two-step process. The researcher explained the study and informed the adolescents meeting the inclusion criteria that their parent or guardian would need to be informed about the study and give their consent unless they are emancipated adolescents. When the adolescents agreed to participate and they were accompanied by their parents or guardian, consent was obtained from the parents/guardian, followed by assent from the adolescent. If they were not accompanied by a parent or guardian, they were invited to return for another appointment to go through the consent/assent process before the interview.
: Not Applicable.
: The authors did not declare any competing interests.