Table 1 Search strategy

Web of Science

i) Terms associated with prevalence and incidence of HIV infection

TS=(HIV OR "HIV infection" OR "human immunodeficiency virus")

AND TS=(prevalence OR incidence)

ii) Terms associated with the notion of effectiveness of interventions

AND TS=(effect OR effects OR efficacy OR effectiveness OR impact*)

AND TS=(intervention* OR program* OR project OR trial*)

iii) Terms associated with prevention interventions and sexual risk exposure

AND TS=(prevention OR prophylaxis OR "primary prevention")

AND TS=("unsafe sex" OR "safe sex" OR "sex work" OR "sex worker" OR "sex workers" OR "unprotected sex" OR "protected sex" OR "high-risk sex" OR "high risk sex" OR "sexual risk")

iv) Language

AND LA=(English OR French)

v) Document type

NOT DT=("RETRACTED PUBLICATION" OR BOOK OR "book chapter" OR "PROCEEDINGS PAPER" OR "MEETING ABSTRACT")

PubMed

i) Terms associated with prevalence and incidence of HIV infection

(HIV [Title/Abstract] OR "HIV infection"[Title/Abstract] OR "human immunodeficiency virus"[Title/Abstract]) AND (prevalence[Title/Abstract] OR incidence[Title/Abstract])

ii) Terms associated with the notion of effectiveness of interventions

AND (effect [Title/Abstract] OR effects [Title/Abstract] OR efficacy [Title/Abstract] OR effectiveness [Title/Abstract] OR impact*[Title/Abstract])

AND (intervention*[Title/Abstract] OR program*[Title/Abstract] OR project[Title/Abstract] OR trial*[Title/Abstract])

iii) Terms associated with prevention interventions and sexual risk exposure

AND (prevention [Title/Abstract] OR prophylaxis[Title/Abstract] OR "primary prevention"[MeSH])

AND ("unsafe sex"[MeSH] OR "safe sex"[MeSH] OR "sex work"[MeSH] OR "unprotected sex"[Title/Abstract] OR "protected sex"[Title/Abstract] OR "sexual risk"[Title/Abstract] OR "high-risk sex"[Title/Abstract] OR "high risk sex"[Title/Abstract])

iv) Language

AND (english[Filter] OR french[Filter])

v) Document type

NOT (booksdocs[Filter] OR congress[Filter] OR retractedpublication[Filter])

Scopus

i) Terms associated with prevalence and incidence of HIV infection

TITLE-ABS-KEY(hiv OR "HIV infection" OR "human immunodeficiency virus") AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (prevalence OR incidence)

ii) Terms associated with the notion of effectiveness of interventions

AND TITLE-ABS-KEY(effect OR effects OR efficacy OR effectiveness OR impact*) AND TITLE-ABS-KEY (intervention* OR program* OR project OR trial*)

iii) Terms associated with prevention interventions and sexual risk exposure

AND TITLE-ABS-KEY ( prevention OR prophylaxis OR "primary prevention")

AND TITLE-ABS-KEY("unsafe sex" OR "safe sex" OR "sex work" OR "sex worker" OR "sex workers" OR "unprotected sex" OR "protected sex" OR "high-risk sex" OR "high risk sex" OR "sexual risk")

iv) Language

AND (LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, "English") OR LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, "French"))

v) Document type

AND (EXCLUDE(DOCTYPE, "tb") OR EXCLUDE(DOCTYPE, "ch") OR EXCLUDE(DOCTYPE, "cp")