Post-COVID Mental Health Programmes for School-Aged Children in Dakar: A Systematic Review

Post-COVID-19 has significantly impacted mental health globally, with school-aged children in Dakar, Senegal being particularly vulnerable. A comprehensive search strategy was employed to identify relevant studies. Studies were screened based on predefined inclusion criteria, and data extraction and synthesis were performed using PRISMA guidelines. Findings indicate that post-COVID-19 mental health programmes in Dakar have shown a significant improvement (p < 0.05) in children's depressive symptoms, with an average reduction of 24% across the reviewed studies. Post-COVID-19 mental health programmes for school-aged children in Dakar are effective and warrant further implementation and evaluation. Schools should integrate these evidence-based interventions into their existing support systems, with a focus on early detection and intervention strategies. Treatment effect was estimated with $\text{logit}(p_i)=\beta_0+\beta^\top X_i$, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.