Abstract
<title>Abstract</title> <p>Background Cancer has been a leading contributor to death globally; it accounted for about 10 million deaths in 2020 alone, or about 1 in 6 deaths. While high-income nations have achieved major improvements in survival through early diagnostic pathways, organized screening initiatives, and advanced health information solutions, several low and middle-income countries continue to experience widening differences in outcomes. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has witnessed an increase in digital innovation and mobile connectivity, which has established fresh opportunities to mitigate long-term health solution gaps through appropriate digital systems. However, implementation has occurred in isolated pilot projects with limited evidence synthesis on their efficiency, scalability, and scope within countries’ health systems. Aim This scoping review aims to systematically map the digital health interventions’ landscape that support, surveillance, early cancer detection and referral pathways across the SSA region, detailing the contexts of their implementation, and assessing factors that affect their scale-up and sustainability. Methodology: The systematic search was performed in Google Scholar, Scopus, and PubMed databases and complemented by grey literature. We identified 2047 records published from January 2010 to February 2025. After excluding 327 duplicates, 1720 titles/abstracts were screened with the PCC (Population, Concept, and Context) framework eligibility requirement and which 1582 records were removed. Furthermore, 138 full-text articles were retrieved and evaluated for eligibility. After the full-text screening, 108 studies were removed. Generally, 30 studies met the inclusion criteria and were involved in the final synthesis. They contained 18 peer reviewed articles and 12 eligible grey literature studies. Result Across the 18 peer-reviewed articles, most studies concentrated on cervical cancer prevention pathways, which reflected the VIA suitability, HPV DNA testing, and digital cervicography for remote supervision and task sharing in SSA. The major countries represented in the peer-reviewed studies included Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania, Madagascar, and Rwanda. Types of intervention clustered into the following: Mobile phone or SMS communication for outcome notification and screening uptake; Smartphone-based cervicography plus decision support for quality enhancement of VIA (Vertical Interconnect Access). c. Application of mHealth to support society health workers plus home-centred HPV testing pathways. d. Tele-triage or telepathology to fasten diagnostic confirmation plus referral. e. Smartphone tools for detection of early signs plus triage of suspicious lesions. On the other hand, grey literature majorly explained multi-country or national digital cancer data solution strengthening and evaluation of telehealth needs that are relevant to referral coordination, early detection, plus surveillance. These were frequent in Nigeria, Rwanda, and Zambia, and were helpful for mapping readiness of scale up, interoperability objectives, and implementation limitations instead of estimating effectiveness. Conclusion This review indicates that digital innovations are increasingly utilized to address significant gaps in the cancer care pathway, especially in screening support, communication, data management, and diagnostic linkage. Mobile communication measures, telepathology platforms, smartphone screening technologies, and initiatives on digital registry have shown promise in solidifying service delivery in poor settings. However, the evidence shows that most interventions are still program-level implementations or localized pilots, with little integration into countries’ health systems.</p>