Tramadol and opioid misuse in West Africa: a scoping review of trafficking patterns, health impacts, and policy responses

A scoping review mapping the evidence on tramadol and other pharmaceutical opioid misuse across West Africa, covering trafficking patterns and informal pharmaceutical markets, health impacts, and policy and service responses. The review follows Arksey and O'Malley, the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis, and PRISMA-ScR, with critical appraisal using AACODS for grey literature and design-specific JBI tools for empirical studies. Five bibliographic databases (PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, African Index Medicus, AJOL) are searched alongside grey literature from United Nations agencies and regional research institutions, with supplementary searching of Google Scholar and citation chasing on included sources; eligibility is limited to English- and French-language sources. This project holds the review protocol, search strategies, and screening documentation.