Table 1.

Descriptive summary of 25 studies reporting the prevalence of birth defects and additional studies reporting the prevalence of sub types of birth defects among newborn in sub-Saharan African countries included in the systematic review and meta-analysis

Birth defects	Author	Publication year	Country	African Region	Sample size	Case	Quality score (10 pts)	Prevalence Per 1000(95% CI)
	Abbey M et al.	2017	Nigeria	Western Africa	7,670	159	7	20.73(17.54,23.92)
	Adane and Seyoum	2018	Ethiopia	Eastern Africa	19,650	317	8	16.13(14.37,17.89)
	Ahuka et al.	2006	D/R of Congo	Central Africa	8,824	36	6	4.08(2.75,5.41)
	Anyanwu L-JC et al.	2015	Nigeria	Western Africa	1,456	41	7	28.16(19.66, 36.66)
	Delport S et al.	1995	South Africa	Southern Africa	17, 351	1,187	6	68.41(64.65, 72.17)
	Ekanem et al.	2008	Nigeria	Western Africa	127, 929	452	8	3.53(3.21, 3.850)
	Ekanem TB et al.	2011	Nigeria	Western Africa	39,693	125	8	3.15(2.60, 3.70)
	Ekwochi et al.	2017	Nigeria	Western Africa	5,830	38	7	6.52(4.45, 8.59)
	Iroha et al.	2001	Nigeria	Western Africa	22,288	353	6	15.84(14.20, 17.48)
	Kishimba RS et al.	2015	Tanzania	Eastern Africa	27, 230	77	6	2.83(2.20, 3.46)
	Kromberg J and Jenkins T	1982	South Africa	Southern Africa	29, 633	435	7	14.68(13.31, 16.05)
	Liu et al.	2014	South Africa and Zambia	Southern Africa	600	36	6	60.00(41.00, 79.00)
	Mekonen et al.	2015	Ethiopia	Eastern Africa	1,516	32	7	21.11(13.87, 28.35)
	Mombo et al.	2017	Gabon	Eastern Africa	3,500	5		1.43(0.18, 2.68)
	Muga R et al.	2009	Kenya	Eastern Africa	7,355	207	7	28.14(14.88, 41.14)
	Mukhtar-Yola M et al.	2005	Nigeria	Western Africa	13,619	75	6	5.51(4.27, 6.27)
	Ndibazza J et al.	2011	Uganda	Central Africa	2,365	180	7	76.11(65.42, 86.80)
	Nuertey et al.	2017	Ghana	Western Africa	37,303	161	8	4.32(3.10, 5.20)
	Obu HA et al.	2012	Nigeria	Western Africa	607	17	6	28.01(14.88, 41.14)
	Ochoga et al.	2018	Nigeria	Western Africa	843	72	8	85.41(66.54, 104.28)
	Onankpa and Adamu	2014	Nigeria	Western Africa	6,578	24	6	3.65(2.19, 5.11)
	Onyearugha C and Onyire B	2014	Nigeria	Western Africa	14,446	60	7	4.15(3.10, 5.20)
	Simpkiss M and Lowe A	1961	Uganda	Central Africa	2,068	112	6	54.16(44.41, 63.91)
	Taye et al.	2016	Ethiopia	Eastern Africa	319,776	6076	8	19.00(18.53, 19.47)
	Venter P et al.	1995	South Africa	Southern Africa	7,617	234	6	30.72(26.84, 34.60)