Ethics approval and consent to participate
The study protocol was approved by the Chad National Bioethics Committee (CNBT) on 08 April 2022 under number: 011CMT/PC/PMT/MESRI/SG/CNBT/2022 and authorized by the Chad Ministry of Public Health under number: N°2326/CMT/PC/PMT/MSPSN/SE/SG/DGPC/DPERO/SRO/2022. The protocol was presented to 11 focal points including 10 provinces and N'Djamena selected for the study. Training sessions on the data collection tool were organized before the start of data and sample collection. An information sheet was given to each voluntary participant as well as the signature of informed consent and assent for minors. Each participant was assigned a unique code, and the data was handled confidentially.
Availability of data and materials
The data sets used and/or analyzed in this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Competing interests
The authors declare no conflict of interest for this work.
Funding: This study was funded by the MAGIS Foundation and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AID).
Author contributions:
MAM, MFA and SA designed this survey. MAM helped design the survey. KD, and FA, ALDW, collected the original data. OD analyzed the data. KD, NN, and OD, contributed to the interpretation of the data. OD, KD, GC, FJDM, DC, and VC contributed to the writing of the article. AB, CAM, IM, NA, MIH, NH, KF, AAM, YMD, AMA, MG, contributed equally to this stud. All the authors have read, edited and contributed to the content of this manuscript.
Acknowledgments: We thank the MAGIS Foundation (Italian Jesuit Movement and Action for Development), the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) for financing this project. We are very grateful to the Ministry of Public Health of Chad for coordinating and ensuring the success of this study, and We would like to express our gratitude to all the focal points who have actively contributed to this study.
Author details:
1Major Tropical Epidemics Laboratory “LAGET” of the Good Samaritan University Hospital Centre, N’Djamena, Chad;
2Ecole Doctorale des Sciences Approfondies pour le Développement Durable de l’Université Évangélique du Cameroun
3Institut de Recherche en Elevage pour le Développement (IRED) ;
4Evangelical University of Cameroon, Bandjoun, Cameroon;
5Université Bon Samaritain, Department of Infectious Diseases/National University Hospital of Reference, Chad;
6MAGIS Foundation;
7Community of friends of computing for development "CAID-Tchad, N'Djamena, Chad
8Institute for Biological Systems (ISB)-CNR, Italy;
9University of Montpellier, Pathogenesis and Control of Chronic an Emerging Infections (PCCEI), INSERM U1058, French Blood Establishment (EFS), Montpellier, France;
10King Faycal Hospital N'Djamena, Chad;
11Abeché University Hospital Laboratory, Chad;
12PMTCT/HIV Bol Health District, Chad;
13Doba Provincial Hospital, Chad;
14Biltine Provincial Hospital, Chad;
15Moundou Provincial Hospital, Chad;
16Sarh Provincial Hospital, Chad;
17Ati Provincial Hospital, Chad;
18Bongor Provincial Hospital, Chad;
19Pala Provincial Hospital, Chad;
20Mongo Provincial Hospital, Chad;
21Faculty of Human Health Sciences, N'djamena University;
22National University Hospital of Reference, Chad;
23Department of Laboratories, Ministry of Public Health, Chad;
24Chantal Biya International Reference Center for research on HIV/AIDS prevention and management (CIRCB), Yaoundé, Cameroon;
25University of Rome “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy;
26Le Bon Samaritain University Hospital Complex, N'Djamena, Chad