A SCOPING REVIEW OF MATERNITY PROTECTION IN LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

Introduction: Poverty is one of the major drivers of pregnancy-related poor outcomes. Poverty and related maternal and infant deaths and poor maternal and child health outcomes may be largely preventable through adequate social protection interventions. Despite promising evidence related to maternity protection there is paucity of evidence on the impact of pregnancy income support interventions in sub-Saharan Africa. This scoping review protocol aims to explore maternity protection programmes in pregnancy, and highlight promising examples of existing programs on which future programs can be designed. Methods and analysis: A scoping review was deemed the most suitable design for this study. This scoping review will follow the five steps of a scoping review as described by Arksey et al., of identifying the research questions, identifying relevant studies, selecting studies, charting the data, and collating, summarising, and reporting results. The target population in this study are pregnant females and mothers. Studies that consider maternity protection and/or related outcomes on either for pregnant females and mothers are included in this study, as well as all studies considering maternity protection and/ or related outcomes in low- and or middle- income countries, as defined by the World Bank, with a special focus on Africa. Relevant articles shall be searched through databases and grey literature and complemented with expert interviews. Ethics and dissemination: Only ethically approved publications will be included in the study. We will disseminate results through journal publications and conferences and academic meetings. Article summary: Pregnancy-related mortality and other maternal and child health outcomes may be preventable through adequate social protection policies. This protocol aims to explore effective maternity protection interventions during pregnancy.