Background: Prevention of HIV transmission is fundamental to ending the HIV epidemic. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) with oral tenofoviremtricitabine (TDF-FTC) is an established HIV-prevention method; however, most PrEP services in Europe have been targeted at men who have sex with men (MSM). A survey in 2021 by Women Against Viruses in Europe (WAVE) showed considerable variation in PrEP access and guidance for women throughout Europe. WAVE therefore commissioned this systematic review to provide insight into PrEP provision and barriers to uptake for women in Europe.Methods: PubMed, Embase, and Scopus were searched for studies (January 2013-May 2021) that reported on actual (e.g., efficacy and safety) or hypothetical (e.g., awareness, barriers, PrEP impact models) use of oral PrEP involving women (including cis, transgender, pregnant, migrant, and breastfeeding women). Search terms included HIV, pre-exposure prophylaxis (specifically TDF-FTC), and women. Studies performed outside of the World Health Organization European region were excluded.
Results:The search identified 4716 unique citations, and 45 peer-reviewed articles (44 studies) were included. The majority of these studies (34/44 [77%])