# Access to maternal health services for young women with disabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review protocol

## TL;DR

This study explores how young women with disabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa access maternal health services and the barriers they face.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is a scoping review protocol focusing on access to maternal healthcare for young women with disabilities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

## Key findings

- Young women with disabilities face multiple barriers in accessing maternal healthcare services.
- The review will synthesize evidence on the extent of access and barriers in Sub-Saharan Africa.
- A thematic synthesis will be used to analyze the data from relevant articles.

## Abstract

Young women with disabilities (WWDs) face multiple barriers in accessing maternal healthcare services in low-resource settings. Consequently, they are at an increased risk of adverse maternal health outcomes due to young age and having a disability. This review focuses on synthesising evidence regarding the extent of access to maternal healthcare services and the barriers faced by young WWDs in Sub-Saharan Africa.

We will conduct a scoping review guided by the updated Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science Core Collection, Global Health, African Journal Online and Women’s Studies International will be performed to identify relevant articles published in English from 2007 to 2025. A team of two reviewers will independently screen the retrieved articles for relevancy based on the inclusion criteria, and a thematic synthesis will be undertaken to develop a descriptive analysis.

Since this review will only involve the analysis of published data, it does not require ethical approval. The results will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.

This review has been registered with the Open Science Framework DOI; https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/Q7Y8S.