Findings from a scoping review

Abstract

Objective: This scoping review aimed to identify how equity has been considered in large-scale infectious disease testing initiatives.

Study design and setting: Large-scale testing interventions are instrumental for infectious disease control and a central tool for the coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) pandemic. We searched Web of Science: core collection, Embase and Medline in June 2021 and followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses recommendations for scoping reviews. We critically analyzed the content of all included articles.

Results: Our search resulted in 2448 studies of which 86 were included for data extraction after screening. Of the included articles, 80% reported on COVID-19 -related screening programs. None of the studies presented a formal definition of (in)equity in testing, however, 71 articles did indirectly include elements of equity through the justification of their target population. Of these 71 studies, 58% articles indirectly alluded to health equity according to the PROGRESS-Plus framework, an acronym used to identify a list of socially stratifying characteristics driving inequity in health outcomes.

Conclusion: The studies included in our scoping review did not explicitly consider equity in their design or evaluation which is imperative for the success of infectious disease testing programs.

Keywords: COVID-19; Ebola; Equity; H1N1; HIV; Inequity; PROGRESS-Plus framework; Scoping review; TIDieR-PHP; Testing programs.