Table 1.

Search Terms and Databases Searched

Database, Search Date	Search Terms	Number of Articles Retrieved
PubMed, 1st December 2019	“Traditional medicine” OR “Complementary medicine” OR “Alternative medicine” OR Medicine, traditional[MeSH Terms] OR “Indigenous Medicine” OR Medicine, Indigenous[MeSH Terms] OR “African traditional medicine” OR “Complementary therapies” OR “Complimentary therapy” OR “Complementary Medicine” OR “Integrative Medicine” AND “Conventional treatment” OR “Conventional medicine” OR “Allopathic medicine” OR “Bio medicine” OR Bio-medicine OR “Modern medicine” OR “Western medicine” AND Cancer* OR neoplas* OR carcinoma OR malignan* OR tumour OR tumor AND Adult* AND “Sub Saharan Africa” OR Sub-Saharan Africa OR “Africa South of the Sahara” OR SSA OR Cameroon OR “Central African Republic” OR Chad OR Congo OR “Democratic Republic of Congo” OR DRC OR “Equatorial Guinea” OR Gabon OR Sao “Tome and Principe” OR Burundi OR Djibouti OR Eritrea OR Ethiopia OR Kenya OR Rwanda OR Somalia OR “South Sudan” OR Sudan OR Tanzania OR Uganda OR Angola OR Botswana OR Lesotho OR Malawi OR Mozambique OR Namibia OR “South Africa” OR Swaziland OR Zambia OR Zimbabwe OR Benin OR Burkina Faso OR “Cabo Verde” OR “Cape Verde” OR “Ivory Coast” OR Gambia OR Ghana OR Guinea OR Guinea-Bissau OR Liberia OR Mali OR Mauritania OR Niger OR Nigeria OR Senegal OR “Sierra Leone” OR Togo AND PUBD: 01/01/2000–01/12/2019	8
Web of Science, 1st December 2019	TS=((Traditional OR Complementary OR alternative OR indigenous OR “African traditional” OR integrative) AND (medicine OR therap* OR treatment)) AND TS=((Conventional OR allopathic OR modern OR western) AND (medicine OR treatment) OR Bio medicine OR Bio-medicine) AND TS=(Cancer* OR tumor OR tumour OR carcinoma OR malignan* OR neoplas*) AND TS=(Adult* OR “grown up” OR “18 years and above” OR mature) AND TS=(Sub Saharan Africa OR Sub-Saharan Africa OR SSA OR Cameroon OR Central African Republic OR Chad OR Congo OR Democratic Republic of Congo OR DRC OR Equatorial Guinea OR Gabon OR Sao Tome and Principe OR Burundi OR Djibouti OR Eritrea OR Ethiopia OR Kenya OR Rwanda OR Somalia OR South Sudan OR Sudan OR Tanzania OR Uganda OR Angola OR Botswana OR Lesotho OR Malawi OR Mozambique OR Namibia OR South Africa OR Swaziland OR Zambia OR Zimbabwe OR Benin OR Burkina Faso OR Cabo Verde OR Cape Verde OR Ivory Coast OR Gambia OR Ghana OR Guinea OR Guinea-Bissau OR Liberia OR Mali OR Mauritania OR Niger OR Nigeria OR Senegal OR Sierra Leone OR Togo) AND PUBD: 01/01/2000–01/12/2019	10
EMBASE, 1st December 2019	((Traditional OR Complementary OR alternative OR indigenous OR African traditional OR integrative) AND (medicine OR therap* OR treatment))	78
	AND
	((Conventional OR allopathic OR modern OR western AND (medicine OR treatment) OR Bio medicine OR Bio-medicine) AND Cancer* OR tumor OR tumour OR carcinoma OR malignan* OR neoplas* AND Adult* OR “grown up” OR “18 years and above” OR mature AND “Sub Saharan Africa” OR “Sub-Saharan Africa” OR Cameroon OR “Central African Republic” OR Chad OR Congo OR “Democratic Republic of Congo” OR DRC OR “Equatorial Guinea” OR Gabon OR “Sao Tome and Principe” OR Burundi OR Djibouti OR Eritrea OR Ethiopia OR Kenya OR Rwanda OR Somalia OR “South Sudan” OR Sudan OR Tanzania OR Uganda OR Angola OR Botswana OR Lesotho OR Malawi OR Mozambique OR Namibia OR “South Africa” OR Swaziland OR Zambia OR Zimbabwe OR Benin OR “Burkina Faso” OR “Cabo Verde” OR “Cape Verde” OR “Ivory Coast” OR Gambia OR Ghana OR Guinea OR Guinea-Bissau OR Liberia OR Mali OR Mauritania OR Niger OR Nigeria OR Senegal OR “Sierra Leone” OR Togo AND PUBD: 01/01/2000–01/12/2019