Table 1 Search strategy for articles on malaria amongst UN5 in SSA

Databases

PubMed, Central, Dimensions and JSTOR,

Language filter

English Language

Time filter

2000–2022

Spatial filter

“sub-Saharan Africa” OR “Angola” OR “Benin” OR “Botswana” OR “Burkina Faso” OR “Burundi” OR “Cape Verde” OR “Cameroon” OR “Central African republic” OR “Chad” OR “Comoros” OR “Congo” OR “DR, Congo” OR “Cote d’Ivoire” OR “Equatorial Guinea” OR “Eritrea” OR “Eswatini” OR “Ethiopia” OR “Gabon” OR “Gambia Ghana” OR “Guinea” OR “Guinea Bissau” OR “Kenya” OR “Lesotho” OR “Liberia” OR “Madagascar” OR “Malawi” OR “Mali” OR “Mauritania” OR “Mauritius” OR “Mozambique” OR “Namibia” OR “Niger” OR “Nigeria” OR “Rwanda” OR “Sao Tome & Principe” OR “Senegal” OR “Seychelles” OR “Sierra Leon” OR “Somalia” OR “South Africa” OR “South Sudan” OR “Sudan” OR “Tanzania” OR “Togo” OR “Uganda” OR “Zambia” OR “Zimbabwe.”

Keywords

1. “Malaria” OR “Fever” OR “Plasmodium falciparum” OR “Plasmodium malariae” OR “Plasmodium ovale” OR “Plasmodium vivax”

2. “Prevalence” OR “Percentage” OR “Proportion”

3. “Risk factors” OR “determinants” OR “causes.”

4. “Children under five years” OR “Infant” OR “Neonate” OR “Children” OR “Early Childhood”

5. “Interventions” OR “Policies” OR “Strategy” OR “Protection” OR “Health promotion” OR “Health education”

Inclusion criteria

The paper should be:

1. A peer-reviewed or grey literature

2. A published from 2000 and later

3. Conducted in sub-Saharan African countries

4. Published in the English language

5. Conducted on children under five years and

6. On prevalence, risk factors, health education and promotion interventions of malaria or any of these outcomes

Exclusion criteria

The paper should be:

1. Conducted on children above five years

2. Conducted in countries outside sub-Saharan Africa

3. A study published online before the year 2000

4. A report, review, abstract, minutes, commentary, letter to editors, preprint, literature reviews

5. Outside the variables of interest