Community health worker engagement in sexual and reproductive health service delivery and support in urban informal settlements in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

This project is a scoping review following JBI methodology to map evidence on community health worker (CHW) engagement in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services in urban informal settlements in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Rapid urbanization in LMICs has led to the expansion of informal settlements where residents face structural, financial, and social barriers to accessing SRHR services. CHWs are increasingly positioned as intermediaries between communities and urban health systems, yet their engagement in SRHR within informal settlements has not been comprehensively synthesized. The objective of this review is to map the extent, nature, and characteristics of evidence on how CHWs are engaged in the delivery and support of SRHR services in urban informal settlements in LMICs, and to describe reported service-related outcomes. The review will include studies describing CHWs or equivalent community-based cadres engaged in SRHR-related activities such as counselling, outreach, referral, commodity distribution, accompaniment, and community mobilization. Quantitative, qualitative, mixed-methods, implementation research, and relevant grey literature published from January 2005 onwards in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic will be considered. Searches will be conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus, with additional grey literature searches of multilateral agencies and non-governmental organizations. Two reviewers will independently screen studies and extract data using a standardized charting tool. Findings will be synthesized descriptively and thematically and presented in tabular, graphical, and narrative formats.