Despite significant global advancements, the past decade has seen stagnation in Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) service coverage and a concerning high under-five and maternal mortality rates, which have been worsened by COVID-19 pandemic-related disruptions, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. This scoping review protocol will support the comprehensive mapping, evaluation and assessment of the application, impact, effectiveness and adaptability of health-resilient frameworks in maintaining these services during pandemics, while also identifying gaps in the literature and areas for further research.

Following the Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines, a literature search across databases such as PubMed, Scopus and African Journals Online for studies published from the inception of the databases to 2024 will be conducted. Covidence will facilitate the iterative screening process by two independent reviewers. Data extraction will employ the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcomes and Healthcare Contexts framework to categorise information. The thematic synthesis will integrate the findings to comprehensively evaluate the framework’s application, impact, effectiveness and adaptability in the context of routine immunisation and MNCH services.

This is part of a broader study approved by the evaluation committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of the Free State, and ethical clearance was granted by the university’s Human Research Ethics Committee with registration number UFS-HSD2025/0102/2705. The findings will be shared with relevant stakeholders through publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at meetings, conferences, seminars and professional forums.

Infants born to pregnant women living with HIV (WLHIV) are at greater risk for morbidity and mortality and may also have poorer developmental outcomes as compared with infants who are not exposed to HIV. Nutrition interventions in pregnancy may affect developmental outcomes.

This study evaluated the effect of maternal vitamin D supplementation on infant development outcomes.

We conducted a secondary analysis of a randomised, triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial of maternal vitamin D supplementation from June 2015 to October 2019.

Antenatal care clinics in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Pregnant WLHIV and their offspring.

Daily 3000 IU vitamin D₃ or placebo supplements taken during pregnancy and lactation.

Infants were assessed for cognitive, language and motor development at 1 year of age with the Caregiver Reported Early Development Instruments (CREDI).

A total of 2167 infants were eligible, and 1312 of them completed CREDI assessments at 1 year of age. Vitamin D supplementation had no effect on overall CREDI z-scores (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.03, 95% CI –0.09, 0.15, p value 0.66). There was also no evidence of a difference between vitamin D and placebo groups in language (SMD 0.06, 95% CI –0.08, 0.21, p value 0.40), motor (SMD 0.02, 95% CI –0.09, 0.14, p value 0.69) or cognitive domain z-scores (SMD 0.05, 95% CI –0.08, 0.17, p 0.48).

Maternal vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy and lactation did not affect infant development outcomes.

ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02305927.