Mapping maternal and child health research in Morocco: a 22-year scoping review

A comprehensive scoping review led by McMaster University researchers provides the first map of the maternal and child health (MIH) research field in Morocco over a 22-year period, from 2000 to 2022, and suggests new ways of studying global health.

Ellen Amster, Jason A. Hanna Professor of Medical History and Associate Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at McMaster University, led the extensive review, published in the journal PLOS Global Health on July 18, 2024. The review is the first research product of the Moroccan-Canadian Network on Maternal and Child Health.

Morocco has been hailed as a global success story in maternal and child health, having met the targets of the World Health Organization and the Sustainable Development Goals. But many Moroccans feel that the health system is not working. Rebellions broke out in the north (Hirak Rif) in 2017, doctors went on strike and medical students refused to sit their exams. There is a clear discrepancy between official health statistics and the social reality on the ground.

Ellen Amster, Jason A. Hanna Professor of Medical History at McMaster University

In 2018, Amster, along with other researchers from McMaster University, traveled to Morocco under a CIHR Public Health Global Health Program grant to network with local colleagues and discuss MIH issues in three settings: Rabat, Marrakech, and the High Atlas Mountains.

The Canadian researchers gained first-hand experience in the field by interacting with Moroccan women’s NGOs, discussing with Moroccan medical professionals the challenges they experience, understanding the rights and social status of Muslim women, and learning about the medical work of local NGOs in remote rural areas of the High Atlas Mountains.

The Moroccan-Canadian Maternal and Child Health Network was established by Canadian and Moroccan MIH researchers to facilitate research collaboration and information exchange.

The scoping review aimed to map existing knowledge, identify gaps and explore the “invisibility” of MIH research in Morocco. Findings revealed that while MIH research has focused on developed, high-income areas, rural, low-income areas, especially those with a Tamazight (“Berber”) speaking majority, have been largely underexplored. Many vulnerable populations have also been invisible to research.

“This review will serve as a resource for researchers and policymakers in Morocco and will inform future directions for research, clinical practice and advocacy,” Amster said.

“Using interdisciplinary research methods can help fill gaps in MIH research and inform policy decisions,” Amster explains. “Future global health research needs to ask about people and things not captured in official statistics. In Morocco, we need to broaden the geographic scope of our research to include neglected and vulnerable populations.”