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Obstetrics and gynaecology
Protocol
Cost of maternal health services in low and middle-income countries: protocol for a systematic review
  1. Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas1,
  2. Ibukun-Oluwa Omolade Abejirinde2,
  3. Oluwasola Banke-Thomas3,
  4. Adamu Maikano4,
  5. Charles Anawo Ameh5
  1. 1 Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom
  2. 2 Center for Global Child Health, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  3. 3 Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
  4. 4 Department of Prevention and Community Programmes, APIN Public Health Initiatives, Jabi District, Abuja, Nigeria
  5. 5 Centre for Maternal and Newborn Health, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom
  1. Correspondence to Dr Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas; a.banke-thomas{at}lse.ac.uk

Abstract

Introduction There is substantial evidence that maternal health services across the continuum of care are effective in reducing morbidities and mortalities associated with pregnancy and childbirth. There is also consensus regarding the need to invest in the delivery of these services towards the global goal of achieving Universal Health Coverage in low/middle-income countries (LMICs). However, there is limited evidence on the costs of providing these services. This protocol describes the methods and analytical framework to be used in conducting a systematic review of costs of providing maternal health services in LMICs.

Methods African Journal Online, CINAHL Plus, EconLit, Embase, Global Health Archive, Popline, PubMed and Scopus as well as grey literature databases will be searched for relevant articles which report primary cost data for maternal health service in LMICs published from January 2000 to June 2019. This search will be conducted without implementing any language restrictions. Two reviewers will independently search, screen and select articles that meet the inclusion criteria, with disagreements resolved by discussions with a third reviewer. Quality assessment of included articles will be conducted based on cost-focused criteria included in globally recommended checklists for economic evaluations. For comparability, where feasible, cost will be converted to international dollar equivalents using purchasing power parity conversion factors. Costs associated with providing each maternal health services will be systematically compared, using a subgroup analysis. Sensitivity analysis will also be conducted. Where heterogeneity is observed, a narrative synthesis will be used. Population contextual and intervention design characteristics that help achieve cost savings and improve efficiency of maternal health service provision in LMICs will be identified.

Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval is not required for this review. The plan for dissemination is to publish review findings in a peer-reviewed journal and present findings at high-level conferences that engage the most pertinent stakeholders.

PROSPERO registration number CRD42018114124

  • cost
  • economic
  • low/middle-income countries
  • maternal health
  • systematic review protocol

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-027822

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors AB-T conceived the review. AB-T, OB-T and CAA designed the review. I-OOA refined the review design. AB-T and AM were involved in the initial drafting of the manuscript. All authors were involved in subsequent draft manuscript reviews and updates and approved the final version of this protocol.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.