ArticlePLOS global public health2023
The burden, prevention and care of infants and children with congenital anomalies in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review.
Article in PLOS global public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The trial behind it
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Opportunities and Challenges for Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies in Sub-Saharan Africa.Birth defects research · 2026Article
- Human-Centered Design of a Contextualized Service Delivery Model for Families of Infants With Major Congenital Anomalies in Kenya.Birth defects research · 2026Article
- Determinants of congenital anomalies among newborns in public hospitals of Northern Ethiopia: case-control study design.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Prevalence of major structural congenital abnormalities detected on infant surface examination in Botswana, 2014-2022: a birth outcomes surveillance study.BMJ paediatrics open · 2026Article
- Resilience, perceived social support and coping style in mothers of infants with congenital anomalies: a cross-sectional, multicenter study.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES AND SOCIAL CHALLENGES OF OROFACIAL CLEFT IN RURAL SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: A QUALITATIVE INTERPRETIVIST APPROACH.Annals of Ibadan postgraduate medicine · 2024Article
- Observational
- Fatal and non-fatal health outcomes of congenital musculoskeletal and limb anomalies among infants in Ethiopia, from 1990 to 2023.The journal of medicine accessArticle
- Fatal and Non-fatal Health Outcomes of Congenital Musculoskeletal and Limb Anomalies Among Infants in Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa, From 1990 to 2023.SAGE open nursingArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
22 authors at 15 institutions in 11 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The aim of this scoping review was to determine the scope, objectives and methodology of contemporary published research on congenital anomalies (CAs) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), to inform activities of the newly established sub-Saharan African Congenital Anomaly Network (sSCAN). MEDLINE was searched for CA-related articles published between January 2016 and June 2021. Articles were classified into four main areas (public health burden, surveillance, prevention, care) and their objectives and methodologies summarized. Of the 532 articles identified, 255 were included. The articles originated from 22 of the 49 SSA countries, with four countries contributing 60% of the articles: Nigeria (22.0%), Ethiopia (14.1%), Uganda (11.7%) and South Africa (11.7%). Only 5.5% of studies involved multiple countries within the region. Most articles included CA as their primary focus (85%), investigated a single CA (88%), focused on CA burden (56.9%) and care (54.1%), with less coverage of surveillance (3.5%) and prevention (13.3%). The most common study designs were case studies/case series (26.6%), followed by cross-sectional surveys (17.6%), retrospective record reviews (17.3%), and cohort studies (17.2%). Studies were mainly derived from single hospitals (60.4%), with only 9% being population-based studies. Most data were obtained from retrospective review of clinical records (56.1%) or via caregiver interviews (34.9%). Few papers included stillbirths (7.5%), prenatally diagnosed CAs (3.5%) or terminations of pregnancy for CA (2.4%).This first-of-a-kind-scoping review on CA in SSA demonstrated an increasing level of awareness and recognition among researchers in SSA of the contribution of CAs to under-5 mortality and morbidity in the region. The review also highlighted the need to address diagnosis, prevention, surveillance and care to meet Sustainable Development Goals 3.2 and 3.8. The SSA sub-region faces unique challenges, including fragmentation of efforts that we hope to surmount through sSCAN via a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach.
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.