Following post-publication review, it was identified that the study reported a clinical trial that had not been registered in a publicly accessible (1), WHO-recognized clinical trial registry, as required by the journal’s Clinical Trial Registration Policy. Although the study had obtained institutional ethics approval, this does not fulfill the requirement for public trial registration as outlined by international standards (ICMJE, WHO, and COPE).

The corresponding author acknowledged the lack of prospective registration and informed the journal that a request for retrospective registration had been submitted. However, no further updates or evidence of successful registration were provided within the required timeframe.

In line with our editorial and ethical policies, and international guidance on clinical trial transparency, the article is retracted due to failure to meet the mandatory requirement of registration in a WHO-recognized public trial registry. As editors, we regret and apologize that this issue was not identified prior to publication.