Table 1 Example MEDLINE search strategy

CMD terms

(Cardiovascular Diseases[MeSH] OR cardiovascular diseas*[all fields] OR cardiovascular[all fields] OR hypertens*[all fields] OR "blood pressure"[all fields] OR "blood pressures"[all fields] OR Lipid Metabolism Disorders[MeSH] OR hypercholest*[all fields] OR hyperlipid*[all fields] OR dyslipid*[all fields] OR ischem*[all fields] OR ischaem*[all fields] OR stroke[all fields] OR "heart failure"[all fields] OR Diabetes Mellitus[MeSH] OR Blood Glucose[MeSH] OR hyperglycemia[all fields] OR hyperglycemic[all fields] OR "glucose tolerance"[all fields] OR "glucose intolerance"[all fields] OR "insulin resistance"[all fields] OR “in diabetes”[all fields] OR diabetic[all fields] OR comorbidity[all fields])

HIV/AIDS terms

(HIV[MeSH] OR HIV Infections[MeSH] OR "Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome"[all fields] OR HIV[all fields] OR HIV Antibodies[MeSH] OR CD4 Lymphocyte Count[MeSH] OR "CD4 count"[all fields] OR "viral load"[all fields])

Health service delivery terms

(Delivery of Health Care[MeSH] OR Health Education[MeSH] OR "patient education"[all fields] OR Health Care Facilities, Manpower, and Services[MeSH] OR Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation[MeSH] OR Primary Health Care[MeSH] OR Access to Information[MeSH] OR Health Behavior[MeSH] OR "accessibility of health services"[all fields] OR "availability of health services"[all fields] OR accessibility[all fields] OR access[all fields] OR availability[all fields] OR utiliz*[all fields] OR Physician's Practice Patterns[MeSH] OR "physician practice patterns"[all fields] OR Attitude of Health Personnel[MeSH] OR "physician attitudes"[all fields] OR Social Behavior[MeSH] OR Communication[Mesh] OR barrier*[all fields] OR facilitator*[all fields] OR obstacle*[all fields] OR "patient compliance"[all fields] OR "medication adherence"[all fields] OR "medication compliance"[all fields] OR diagnosis[MeSH] OR screening[all fields] OR diagnosis[all fields])

Filter for African countries, languages, and publication dates

(“Africa”[MeSH] OR Africa*[tw] OR Algeria[tw] OR Angola[tw] OR Benin[tw] OR Botswana[tw] OR “Burkina Faso”[tw] OR Burundi[tw] OR Cameroon[tw] OR “Canary Islands”[tw] OR “Cape Verde”[tw] OR “Central African Republic”[tw] OR Chad[tw] OR Comoros[tw] OR Congo[tw] OR “Democratic Republic of Congo”[tw] OR Djibouti[tw] OR Egypt[tw] OR “Equatorial Guinea”[tw] OR Eritrea[tw] OR Ethiopia[tw] OR Gabon[tw] OR Gambia[tw] OR Ghana[tw] OR Guinea[tw] OR “Guinea Bissau”[tw] OR “Ivory Coast”[tw] OR “Cote d’Ivoire”[tw] OR Jamahiriya[tw] OR Kenya[tw] OR Lesotho[tw] OR Liberia[tw] OR Libya[tw] OR Libia[tw] OR Madagascar[tw] OR Malawi[tw] OR Mali[tw] OR Mauritania[tw] OR Mauritius[tw] OR Mayote[tw] OR Morocco[tw] OR Mozambique[tw] OR Mocambique[tw] OR Namibia[tw] OR Niger[tw] OR Nigeria[tw] OR Principe[tw] OR Reunion[tw] OR Rwanda[tw] OR “Sao Tome”[tw] OR Senegal[tw] OR Seychelles[tw] OR “Sierra Leone”[tw] OR Somalia[tw] OR “South Africa”[tw] OR “St Helena”[tw] OR Sudan[tw] OR Swaziland[tw] OR Tanzania[tw] OR Togo[tw] OR Tunisia[tw] OR Uganda[tw] OR “Western Sahara”[tw] OR Zaire[tw] OR Zambia[tw] OR Zimbabwe[tw] OR “Central Africa”[tw] OR “Central African”[tw] OR “West Africa”[tw] OR “West African”[tw] OR “Western Africa”[tw] OR “Western African”[tw] OR “East Africa”[tw] OR “East African”[tw] OR “Eastern Africa”[tw] OR “Eastern African”[tw] OR “North Africa”[tw] OR “North African”[tw] OR “Northern Africa”[tw] OR “Northern African”[tw] OR “South African”[tw] OR “Southern Africa”[tw] OR “Southern African”[tw] OR “sub Saharan Africa”[tw] OR “sub Saharan African”[tw] OR “subSaharan Africa”[tw] OR “subSaharan African”[tw]) NOT (“guinea pig”[tw] OR “guinea pigs”[tw] OR “aspergillus niger”[tw]) AND (english[la] OR afrikaans[la]) AND (2003[pdat] : 3000[pdat])