Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Interventions in Schools for Effective Pandemic Response in Low and Middle-Income Countries: Scoping review protocol

Background The impact of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) access on mitigating illness is well documented. Despite continued national and international efforts, access to improved water and sanitation in schools remains limited in many developing countries. The proposed scoping review is aimed at mapping evidence on the status of WASH interventions in schools for effective pandemic response in low and middle-income countries. The scoping review will guide and improve schools’ WASH with an ultimate goal of preventing disease and protecting school-going children during infectious disease outbreaks, including the current COVID-19 pandemic. Methods The proposed scoping review will be guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s framework. A comprehensive keyword search for relevant articles presenting evidence on the status of WASH in school interventions will be conducted in the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), PubMed, Academic Search Complete, Google Scholar, and the Scopus electronic databases. Articles reporting on the status of WASH in schools published between January 2000 and September 2021 will be included. The review will employ the NVIVO version 12 software package to extract the relevant themes from the included articles using content thematic analysis. Discussion We anticipate to find relevant studies reporting on the status of WASH interventions in schools. The results of this review will provide information that is likely to inform the monitoring and evaluation of WASH interventions in schools and assist towards achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6. It may also help in crafting relevant and up to date guidelines or policies in relation to WASH systems in schools. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement The training on Evidence synthesis on how to conduct systematic reviews has been made possible by the funding from UNICEF and with support from Future Africa, the University of Pretoria. ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below: This is a scoping review protocol. It does not require participants consent I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes The data of this study will be made fully available and without restriction at the repository of Durban University of Technology Library. South Africa. Or anywhere recommended by the PLOS Global Public Health