Ethics approval and consent to participate
The study adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.Individuals (or their parent/guardian if they were < 18 years) were required to provide informed consent to participate in the study before they could be enrolled. Both the HANDS trial (SCC1597) and the STI prevalence study (21700) were approved by the MRC Gambia Scientific Coordinating Committee, the Gambia Government/MRC Joint Ethics Committee and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Observational Ethics Committee.