Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title:  Factors associated with the utilization of antenatal care and Prevention of Mother -to-Child 
HIV Transmission services in Ethiopia: Applying a count regression model  
 
Version: 2 Date: 06 Aug 2018 
 
Reviewer:  Reviewer  2 
 
Reviewer’s report:  
 
"REVISION ASSESSMENT FROM THE ACADEMIC PEER REVIEWER:  
 
Has the author addressed your concerns sufficiently for you t o now recommend the work as a 
technically sound contribution? Yes  
 
 
Reviewer comments: The first line under Methods should be changed slightly to......The selection 
of participating health facilities in this study was based on the 2012 ANC sentinel surveill ance of 
PMTCT by the ........  
 
Please delete the sentence ""Based on this report, health facilities were identified to enroll in the 
current study. ""  
 
In Table 1, use same decimal points for all values  
 
First line of page 7, delete the formula, 449 is jus t fine  
 
Tables 3 and 4 :Author could delete every % signs all over the table and put one on each column 
head  
 
Table 5, 7 decimal points is rather too long. Consider reducing it. There is no need providing 
standard error and confidence interval in same tabl e, confidence interval alone is sufficient. 
Delete SE and Z columns"  
 
Are the methods appropriate and well described?  
If not, please specify what is required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Does the work include the necessary controls?  
If not, please specify which controls are required in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the data shown?  
If not, please explain in your comments to the authors.  
 
Yes 
 
Are you able to assess any statistics in the manuscript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please specify what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
Not relevant to this manuscript  
 
Qual ity of written English  
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:  
 
Acceptable  
 
Declaration of competing interests  
Please complete a declaration of competing interests, considering the following questions:  
 
1. Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an 
organisation that may in any way gain or lose financially from the publication of this 
manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2. Do you hold any stocks or  shares in an organisation that may in any way gain or lose 
financially from the publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
3. Do you hold or are you currently applying for any patents relating to the content of the 
manuscript?  
 
4. Have you received reimbursements, fees, funding, or salary from an organization that 
holds or has applied for patents relating to the content of the manuscript?  
 
5. Do you have any other financial competing interests?  
 
6. Do you have any non -financial competing interests  in relation to this paper?  
 
If you can answer no to all of the above, write 'I declare that I have no competing interests' 
below. If your reply is yes to any, please give details below.  
 
This reviewer has been recruited by a partner organization, Research Square. Reviewers with 
declared or apparent competing interests are not utilized for these reviews. This revie wer has 
agreed to publication of their comments online under a Creative Commons Attribution License 
attributed to Research Square and was paid a small honorarium for completing the review within 
a specified timeframe. Honoraria for reviews such as this are  paid regardless of the reviewer 
recommendation.  
 
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