Facilitators And Barriers To Malaria Surveillance In Community Pharmacies And Over- The- Counter Medicine Sellers In Sub- Saharan Africa’s Health Sector: A Scoping Review Protocol

Abstract

Introduction Malaria remains a serious public health issue, and sub- Saharan Africa (SSA) is still disproportionately burdened with the disease. Efficient disease tracking in both public and private healthcare points is required to consolidate elimination efforts. Considerable amounts of malaria cases in the private sector, especially community pharmacies, are not captured into routine surveillance systems. This scoping review aims to systematically collate the existing evidence on the facilitators and barriers to malaria surveillance in community pharmacies (CPs) and over- the- counter medicine sellers (OTCMS) in SSA. Methods and analysis We will retrieve all relevant studies (published and completed but unpublished) through searches in PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science and Hinari from inception to 15 June 2026. Searches will be conducted without language restrictions; however, full- text inclusion will be limited to English- language publications due to resource constraints. Titles and abstracts of non- English articles will be thoroughly screened using online- assisted translation tools such as Google Translate to assess their potential eligibility. Potentially relevant non- English studies will be documented and reported in the appendices to allow for an evaluation of possible language bias, in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta- Analyses (PRISMA) reporting guidelines. All the articles retrieved from the searches will be collated and deduplicated using EndNote. The deduplicated studies will then be screened and selected. Two reviewers will independently screen studies using a study selection flow chart developed from the pre- specified eligibility criteria. The data synthesis for this scoping review will be conducted using a narrative synthesis approach. The extracted data will be organised into a structured format, categorising information based on study characteristics, malaria surveillance activities, facilitators and barriers. Ethics and dissemination Formal ethical approval is not required as the review uses publicly available data. Findings will be published in an open- access peer- reviewed journal, presented at relevant conferences and disseminated through policy briefs and infographics to the WHO, national malaria programmes and pharmacy councils.