Dataset Information

Mapping health service coverage inequalities in Africa: a scoping review protocol.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Addressing inequities in health service coverage is a global priority, especially with the resurgence of interest in universal health coverage. However, in Africa, which has the lowest health service coverage index, there is limited information on the progress of countries in addressing inequalities related to health services. Thus, we seek to map the evidence on inequalities in health service coverage in Africa.

Methods and analysis

We will conduct a scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis. We preregistered this protocol with the Open Science Framework on 26 July 2022 (https://osf.io/zd5bt). We will consider any empirical research that assesses inequalities in relation to services for reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (eg, family planning), infectious diseases (eg, tuberculosis treatment) and non-communicable diseases (eg, cervical cancer screening) in Africa. We will search MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO and Cochrane Library from their inception onwards. We will also hand-search Google and Global Index Medicus, and screen reference lists of relevant studies. We will evaluate studies for eligibility and extract data from included studies using pre-piloted and standardised forms. We will further extract a core set of health service coverage indicators, which are disaggregated by place of residence, race/ethnicity/culture, occupation, gender, religion, education, socioeconomic status and social capital plus equity stratifiers. We will summarise data using a narrative approach involving thematic syntheses and descriptive statistics. We will report our findings according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews checklist.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval is not required as primary data will not be collected. This work will contribute to identifying knowledge gaps in the evidence of inequalities in health service coverage in Africa, and propose strategies that could help overcome current challenges. We will disseminate our findings to knowledge users through a publication in a peer-reviewed journal and organisation of workshops.

SUBMITTER: Karamagi HC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10255155 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Mapping health service coverage inequalities in Africa: a scoping review protocol.

Karamagi Humphrey Cyprian HC Ben Charif Ali A Afriyie Doris Osei DO Sy Sokona S Kipruto Hillary H Oyelade Taiwo T Droti Benson B

BMJ open 20230530 5

<h4>Introduction</h4>Addressing inequities in health service coverage is a global priority, especially with the resurgence of interest in universal health coverage. However, in Africa, which has the lowest health service coverage index, there is limited information on the progress of countries in addressing inequalities related to health services. Thus, we seek to map the evidence on inequalities in health service coverage in Africa.<h4>Methods and analysis</h4>We will conduct a scoping review f ...[more]

PMID: 37253504

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Project description:IntroductionImplementation research has emerged as part of evidence-based decision-making efforts to plug current gaps in the translation of research evidence into health policy and practice. While there has been a growing number of institutions and initiatives promoting the uptake of implementation research in Africa, their role and effectiveness remain unclear, particularly in the context of universal health coverage (UHC). This review aims to extensively identify and characterise the nature, facilitators and barriers to the use of implementation research for assessing or evaluating UHC-related interventions or programmes in Africa.Methods and analysisThis scoping review will be developed based on the methodological framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley and enhanced by the Joanna Briggs Institute. It will be reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. A comprehensive search of the following electronic databases will be conducted: Medline (via PubMed), Scopus and the Cochrane Library. Relevant grey literature and reference lists will also be searched. All publications describing the application of implementation research in the context of UHC will be considered for inclusion. Findings will be narratively synthesised and analysed using a predefined conceptual framework. Where applicable, quantitative evidence will be aggregated using summary statistics. There will be consultation of stakeholders, including UHC-oriented health professionals, programme managers, implementation researchers and policy-makers; to provide methodological, conceptual and practical insights.Ethics and disseminationThe data used in this review will be sourced from publicly available literature; hence, this study will not require ethical approval. Findings and recommendations will be disseminated to reach a diverse audience, including UHC advocates, implementation researchers and key health system stakeholders within the African region. Additionally, findings will be disseminated through an open-access publication in a relevant peer-reviewed journal.

Project description:IntroductionPrevious studies have attempted to review the vast body of evidence on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (ASRH), but none has focused on a complete mapping and synthesis of the body of inquiry and evidence on ASRH in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Such a comprehensive scoping is needed, however, to offer direction to policy, programming and future research. We aim to undertake a scoping review of studies on ASRH in SSA to capture the landscape of extant research and findings and identify gaps for future research.Methods and analysisThis protocol is designed using the framework for scoping reviews developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. We will include English and French language peer-reviewed publications and grey literature on ASRH (aged 10-19) in SSA published between January 2010 and June 2019. A three-step search strategy involving an initial search of three databases to refine the keywords, a full search of all databases and screening of references of previous review studies for relevant articles missing from our full search will be employed. We will search AJOL, JSTOR, HINARI, Scopus, Science Direct, Google Scholar and the websites for the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNESCO and Guttmacher Institute. Two reviewers will screen the titles, abstracts and full texts of publications for eligibility and inclusion-using Covidence (an online software). We will then extract relevant information from studies that meet the inclusion criteria using a tailored extraction frame and template. Extracted data will be analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. Results will be presented using tables and charts and summaries of key themes arising from available research findings.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required for a scoping review as it synthesises publicly available publications. Dissemination will be through publication in a peer-review journal and presentation at relevant conferences and convening of policymakers and civil society organisations working on ASRH in SSA.

Project description:IntroductionProblematic sleep is a major threat to health and quality of life among adolescents. Hence, to provide directions for research and interventions, there is a need to examine the literature on adolescent sleep health in Africa. However, available studies on adolescent sleep health in Africa have not been properly mapped. Thus, this scoping review aims to investigate the extent and type of available evidence concerning sleep health among adolescents in Africa and to highlight the relationship of adolescent sleep health with adverse mental health outcomes and cardiometabolic risk factors. The review will further highlight areas of agreement and controversies on adolescent sleep health, and identify evidence gaps that require research attention across the continent.Methods and analysisThis scoping review will be conducted using Arksey and O'Malley's six-step procedure. Thus, we have prepared this protocol according to the framework for scoping reviews developed by the Joanna Briggs Institute. To identify eligible studies, we will search MEDLINE, Scopus, PsycINFO, AJOL, JSTOR, HINARI and Google Scholar. The review will include all published articles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian languages on adolescent sleep health in Africa from the inception of the databases, while relevant information will be extracted from included studies using an adapted data extraction tool. The results will be presented using tables and charts as appropriate.Ethics and disseminationThe scoping review does not require ethical approval because the publications to be used for the review are publicly available and the study does not involve contact with humans or other animals as research participants. Furthermore, clinical records will not be used for the study. Upon completion, findings from the study will be disseminated through presentations at scientific meetings and publication in a relevant peer-reviewed journal.Scoping review registrationOpen Science Framework (https://osf.io/5sjwq/).

Project description:IntroductionSchool-to-work/university transition is a sensitive period that can have a substantial impact on health and health behaviour over the life course. There is some indication that health and health behaviour is socially patterned in the age span of individuals in this transition (16-24 years) and that there are differences by socioeconomic position (SEP). However, evidence regarding this phenomenon has not been systematically mapped. In addition, little is known about the role of institutional characteristics (eg, of universities, workplaces) in the development of health and possible inequalities in health during this transition. Hence, the first objective of this scoping review is to systematically map the existing evidence regarding health and health behaviours (and possible health inequalities, for example, differences by SEP) in the age group of 16-24 years and during school-to-work transition noted in Germany and abroad. The second objective is to summarise the evidence on the potential effects of contextual and compositional characteristics of specific institutions entered during this life stage on health and health behaviours. Third, indicators and measures of these characteristics will be summarised.Methods and analysisWe will systematically map the evidence on health inequalities during school-to-work-transitions among young adults (aged 16-24 years), following the methodological framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley. The literature search is performed in Ovid MEDLINE, Web of Science, International Labour Organization and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, using a predetermined search strategy. Articles published between January 2000 and February 2020 in English or German are considered for the review. The selection process follows a two-step approach: (1) screening of titles and abstracts, and (2) screening of full texts, both steps by two independent reviewers. Any discrepancies in the selection process are resolved by a third researcher. Data extraction will be performed using a customised data extraction sheet. The results will be presented in tabular and narrative form.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required for this scoping review. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and presented at international conferences and project workshops.

Project description:BackgroundImplementation research has emerged as part of evidence-based decision-making efforts to plug current gaps in the translation of research evidence into health policy and practice. While there has been a growing number of initiatives promoting the uptake of implementation research in Africa, its role and effectiveness remain unclear, particularly in the context of universal health coverage (UHC). Hence, this scoping review aimed to identify and characterise the use of implementation research initiatives for assessing UHC-related interventions or programmes in Africa.MethodsThe review protocol was developed based on the methodological framework proposed by Arksey and O'Malley, as enhanced by the Joanna Briggs Institute. The review is reported in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). MEDLINE, Scopus and the Cochrane Library were searched. The search also included a hand search of relevant grey literature and reference lists. Literature sources involving the application of implementation research in the context of UHC in Africa were eligible for inclusion.ResultsThe database search yielded 2153 records. We identified 12 additional records from hand search of reference lists. After the removal of duplicates, we had 2051 unique records, of which 26 studies were included in the review. Implementation research was used within ten distinct UHC-related contexts, including HIV; maternal and child health; voluntary male medical circumcision; healthcare financing; immunisation; healthcare data quality; malaria diagnosis; primary healthcare quality improvement; surgery and typhoid fever control. The consolidated framework for implementation research (CFIR) was the most frequently used framework. Qualitative and mixed-methods study designs were the commonest methods used. Implementation research was mostly used to guide post-implementation evaluation of health programmes and the contextualisation of findings to improve future implementation outcomes. The most commonly reported contextual facilitators were political support, funding, sustained collaboration and effective programme leadership. Reported barriers included inadequate human and other resources; lack of incentives; perception of implementation as additional work burden; and socio-cultural barriers.ConclusionsThis review demonstrates that implementation research can be used to achieve UHC-related outcomes in Africa. It has identified important facilitators and barriers to the use of implementation research for promoting UHC in the region.

Dataset Information

Mapping health service coverage inequalities in Africa: a scoping review protocol.

Introduction

Methods and analysis

Ethics and dissemination

Publications

Mapping health service coverage inequalities in Africa: a scoping review protocol.

Similar Datasets

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