Mapping the Unmapped: A Scoping Review Protocol of Paediatric Lupus Nephritis Across Africa

This project aims to map the epidemiological, clinical, histopathologic, therapeutic, and health systems landscape of paediatric-onset lupus nephritis (pLN) across Africa. It employs a hybrid scoping review with an embedded, conditional targeted meta-analysis. Given the absence of population-level data, we introduce a dynamic model as a conceptual and quantitative framework for the review. This model estimates Africa’s mappable burden (TMB) of pLN at a given time, integrating demographic growth, survival probabilities, diagnostic dynamics, and under-recognition. The model is not presented as a definitive epidemiologic tool, nor is the TMB a final burden claim. Rather, it functions as a “broken compass”, a conceptual scaffold designed to orient us within the evidence desert of pLN.