Table 1 A summary of characteristics of included studies

Kreiss 1992 [15]

Unblinded RCT

138 female sex workers Nairobi, Kenya

1000 mg N-9 sponge/placebo

Richardson 2001 [19]

Double blind RCT

278 female sex workers, Mombasa, Kenya

52.5 mg N-9 gel/placebo

Roddy 1998 [17]

Double blind RCT

1292 female sex workers, Cameroon

70 mg N-9 film/placebo

Roddy 2002 [16]

Unblinded RCT

1251 women (non sex workers) from clinics or pharmacy, Cameroon

100 mg N-9 gel/No intervention

Van Damme 2002 [18]

Triple blind RCT

892 women sex workers from Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, South Africa, Thailand

52.5 mg N-9/placebo

Halpern 2008 [21]

Double blind RCT

1644 women from bars, market, other common gathering areas, Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria

6% CS gel/placebo

Van Damme 2008 [24]

Double blind RCT

1428 women, South Africa, Uganda, Benin and India (Chennai, Bangalore)

6% CS gel/placebo

Felblum 2008 [20]

Double blind RCT

2153 women from local market areas, bars hostels, military barracks and colleges, Lagos and Ibadan, Nigeria

1.0% C31G (SAVVY) gel/placebo

Peterson 2007 [23]

Double blind RCT

2142 women from high HIV transmission areas including markets, bars, hotels, Accra and Kumasi, Ghana

1% C31G (SAVVY) gel/placebo

Skoler-Karpoff 2008 [27]

Double blind RCT

6,202 women from local health clinics, malls, churches, taxi ranks, other community venues, University of Cape Town, University of Limpopo-Medunsa campus Ga-Rankuwa and Medical Research Council, Durban, South Africa

Carraguard gel/placebo

Abdul Karim 2011[26]

RCT Double blind

3101 women in Malawi, South Africa, Zambia , Zimbawe, USA

BufferGel/ 0.5% PRO2000/placebo

McCormack 2010 [22]

RCT Double blind

6,651 women, three sites in South Africa; Mwanza, Tanzania; Entebbe, Uganda; Mazambuka, Zambia

0.5% PRO2000 gel/placebo

Abdul Karim 2010 [25]

RCT Double blind

1085 at urban and rural clinic, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa

1% tenofovir gel/placebo