COVID-19, maternal and child health, and nutrition repository: A portal to provide updated information to health professionals amid a pandemic and continuously evolving environment

Abstract

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a lack of consistent guidance despite pressing questions from health professionals regarding how to limit the spread of SARS-CoV-2 while also providing optimal maternal and child health care. In response, the “COVID-19, Maternal and Child Health, and Nutrition” literature repository was assembled, mobilizing a team of graduate students to provide concise summaries of emerging peer-reviewed publications. What began as a small trickle of evidence from China quickly grew into an overwhelming amount of information – roughly 120-150 publications per week pertaining to maternal and child health in the context of COVID-19. The authors present their experiences constructing, staffing, maintaining, and disseminating this literature repository while also providing opportunities for growth and learning for the graduate student volunteers who made it possible. Many of these students also served on the frontlines of the pandemic as healthcare providers, often sharing how helpful it was for their work with patients to stay up to date with emerging research. This case study is intended to serve as a blueprint for current and future repositories, particularly those that aim to incorporate service learning into graduate education.