SynthesisPloS one2025
Armed violent conflict and healthcare-seeking behavior for maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Implementation of essential newborn care in settings of high-intensity armed conflict: a systematic review.BMJ global health · 2026Pooled it
- Article
- Review
- Health-seeking amid conflict and climate stress: how climate disaster shapes maternal and child healthcare behavior in fragile and conflict-affected settings.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Health-seeking in fragile and conflict-affected settings: how armed violent conflict shapes maternal and child health-seeking behaviours.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Caregivers´ qualitative insights on trust, resilience and vaccination attitudes shaping child health in conflict-affected Northeast Nigeria.Conflict and health · 2026Article
- Impact of prolonged armed conflict on the patterns of emergency department visits.BMC emergency medicine · 2026Article
- Barriers and facilitators to maternal, newborn, and child health service utilization among internally displaced populations in Somalia.Frontiers in global women's health · 2026Review
- Maternal and child healthcare-seeking among victims of violence in armed conflict: a quasi-experimental study in Northeast Nigeria.BMJ global health · 2025Observational
- Immunisation decision-making and barriers to vaccine uptake among children under-5 in limited-resource settings.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Armed conflict and child vaccination in Nigeria: the deprioritised preventive care.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- The impact of armed conflict on vaccination coverage: a systematic review of empirical evidence from 1985 to 2025.Conflict and health · 2025Review
- When conflict meets political exclusion: Ethnicity, governance, and child mortality.SSM - population health · 2025Article
- The nexus between healthcare provider distribution and neonatal mortality based on the context of maternal and child healthcare services in Pakistan.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Exploring Associations Between WaSH-Related Health Outcomes and Terrorist Activities in the Sahel: A Scoping Review.Public health reviews · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundOver 630 million women and children worldwide have been displaced by conflict or live dangerously close to conflict zones. While the adverse effects of physical destruction on healthcare delivery are relatively well understood, the effects on healthcare-seeking behavior remain underexplored, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This study aims to better understand the interconnections and knowledge gaps between exposure to armed violent conflicts and healthcare-seeking behaviors for maternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa.
methodsFive key electronic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycNET, and African Journals Online) were searched for peer-reviewed publications between 2000 and 2022. The review was designed according to PRISMA-P statement and the protocol was registered with PROSPERO database. The methodological quality and risks of bias were appraised using GRADE. A data extraction instrument was modelled along the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews and the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination of Systematic Reviews.
resultThe search results yielded 1,148 publications. Only twenty-one studies met the eligibility criteria, reporting healthcare-seeking behaviors for maternal and child health. Of the twenty-one studies, seventeen (81.0%) reported maternal health behaviors such as antenatal care, skilled birth attendance, postnatal care services, and family planning. Nine studies (42.8%) observed behaviors for child health such as vaccination uptake, case management for pneumonia, diarrhea, malnutrition, and cough. While conflict exposure is generally associated with less favorable healthcare-seeking behaviors, some of the studies found improved health outcomes. Marital status, male partner attitudes, education, income and poverty levels were associated with healthcare-seeking behavior.
conclusionThere is a need for multifaceted interventions to mitigate the impact of armed violent conflict on healthcare-seeking behavior, given its overall negative effects on child and maternal healthcare utilization. While armed violent conflict disproportionately affects children's health compared to maternal health, it is noteworthy that exposure to such conflicts may inadvertently also lead to positive outcomes. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42023484004.
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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 OpenQuestion graph.