Low-income and-middle-income countries (LMICs) contribute to the maximum burden of stillbirth globally, which affects parents in various tangible and intangible ways, emphasising the need for having a provision of parental leave to recover from the physical and mental/emotional drain. In response to this, we conducted a scoping review with the objective of identifying provision of leave within maternity benefit policies after stillbirth in LMICs.

The study is conducted in accordance with Joanna Briggs Institute guidelines, using the population, concept and context framework to define the research questions. The International Labour Organization (ILO) global care policy portal and documents from selected international United Nations (UN) organisations were reviewed to assess the inclusion of stillbirth within maternity leave policies. Additionally, country-specific maternity leave policies were retrieved from official government sources for LMICs. Fuerther, databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus and ProQuest were searched for studies from LMICs to identify literature with recommendations around leave policy. Study selection and data extraction were conducted by two independent reviewers with arbitration by a third reviewer.

This study noted a stark difference in the leave policy; although all 49 LMICs included in the review had a national maternity leave policy, 67.3% did not align with ILO’s Convention number 183. In contrast, only 10 countries (

Leave grant showed stark disparity. Ignoring the need for physical rest may have long-term health implications. Organisations should have a provision to support women having a stillbirth. Having a provision for flexible leave options allows women to decide when they are emotionally and physically ready to return, rather than forcing a one-size-fits-all solution.

Despite implementation of the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD), screening coverage for oral, breast and cervical cancers remains below 2%. Screening quality is inadequately addressed and delays in diagnosis and treatment initiation continue to persist. This multisite implementation research aims to improve district-level coverage and quality of screening, early diagnosis and timeliness of treatment initiation through a model co-developed within the NP-NCD context.

The study will be conducted in three phases across seven districts in diverse regions of India. In phase I (formative), the current status, barriers and facilitators of cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment initiation under NP-NCD will be assessed. In phase II (optimisation), a model (package of implementation strategies) will be co-developed and iteratively optimised with multistakeholder engagement at the subdistrict level to improve screening coverage and quality and strengthen the referral system for early diagnosis and treatment initiation. In phase III (scale-up and evaluation), the model will be implemented at the district level and evaluated for improvements in screening, early diagnosis and treatment initiation. A convergent mixed-methods design will be used, incorporating household surveys, facility assessments and stakeholder interviews. Implementation Research Logic Model will guide planning, execution and evaluation in the present study. Determinants of screening coverage and quality, early diagnosis and treatment initiation will be assessed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Implementation strategies for the model will be finalised using the Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change framework. Implementation and service outcomes will be evaluated using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance framework.

Ethical approval has been obtained from all study sites. The study findings will be disseminated at the state, national and global levels through meetings and conferences and submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication.

CTRI/2025/08/092672.