Mental health consequences of gender-based violence in conflict-affected Cameroon: A scoping review

Since 2016, Cameroon's North West and South West regions have been engulfed in the Anglophone Crisis, a violent conflict between separatist groups and government forces. The crisis has resulted in over 6,000 deaths, over 700,000 internally displaced persons, and widespread gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual violence, intimate partner violence, and forced marriage. GBV is a well-established risk factor for poor mental health outcomes, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation. However, the evidence base on mental health consequences of GBV specifically in Cameroon's conflict-affected regions has not been systematically mapped. This scoping review aims to systematically map and describe the available evidence on the mental health consequences of GBV for conflict-affected populations in Cameroon. The review will identify what mental health outcomes have been documented, which populations have been studied, and what gaps exist in the evidence base. The review will follow the Arksey and O'Malley (2005) framework for scoping reviews, as updated by Levac et al. (2010) and Peters et al. (2020). It will search academic databases (PubMed Central, Google Scholar, African Journals Online, Directory of Open Access Journals, Scopus, Web of Science) and grey literature sources (ReliefWeb, UNFPA, UNICEF, OCHA, Human Rights Watch, WHO) for studies published between 2016 and the present. The review will include any empirical study (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods) that documents mental health outcomes among GBV survivors in conflict-affected Cameroon. Expected outcomes include: (1) a descriptive summary of the mental health consequences of GBV documented in the literature, (2) identification of populations that have been studied and those that remain under-researched, (3) identification of gaps in the evidence base, and (4) recommendations for policy, practice, and future research. This scoping review will provide the first systematic map of evidence on mental health consequences of GBV in conflict-affected Cameroon. Findings will inform humanitarian programming, guide resource allocation, and identify priorities for future research in one of Africa's most under-researched humanitarian crises.