Title: The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Routine HIV Care and Cervical Cancer
Screening in North-Central Nigeria
Version: 0 Date: 18 Sep 2023
Reviewer's report:
Dear Author(s),
I highly commend you for a great job done on this article which is quite novel. The  well-written
article delves into how  COVID-19 affected routine HIV care and Cervical cancer screening  in
Nigeria. This gives us insight as to the loopholes the pandemic created in the fight against other
pre-existing diseases of public health concern which will further direct interventions to address
the problem. It is a good contribution to the body of knowledge.
However, I would like that the author(s) clearly define their inclusion and exclusion criteria in
the methods section. While this is seen, it is not clear. For example, cervical cancer screening
is peculiar to biological females, it is expected that being female is the foremost demographic
considered when extracting the data to determine the  uptake of cervical cancer screening during
that period. Same way, PLW HIV can be both sexes. This makes it unclear whether the author(s)
are focused on the “impact of COVID-19 on Routine HIV care and cervical cancer screening
of women in Nigeria” ? It takes us back to the research questions  that should be reflected in
the methodology.  Hence, can the author(s) clarify that? The data extracted for the routine HIV
healthcare clinic only female data? If so, it should be stated. If not, it should also be stated for
clarity.
In addition to this, the author(s) have given insufficient  comparisons in the discussion section as
to the impact of COVID-19 on rotund HIV care in other African countries at least especially high
burden ones. I will like that the authors refer to the following articles for deeper understanding
in the case of a revision:
1. Jardim CGR, Zamani R, Akrami M. Evaluating the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
on Accessing HIV Services in South Africa: A Systematic Review. Int J Environ Res Public
Health. 2022 Sep 21;19(19):11899. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191911899. PMID: 36231201; PMCID:
PMC9565529.
2. Adugna A, Azanaw J, Sharew Melaku M. The Effect of COVID-19 on Routine HIV
Care Services from Health Facilities in Northwest Ethiopia. HIV AIDS (Auckl). 2021 Dec
31;13:1159-1168. doi: 10.2147/HIV.S341012. PMID: 35002332; PMCID: PMC8725693.
3. Katbi M, Bello M, Adeoye O, Adedoyin A, Ukaere A, et al. (2022) The
Intersection of Two Pandemics: Elucidating the Impact of COVID-19 Restrictions on
HIV Services among Key Populations in Northeast Nigeria. Int J Virol AIDS 9:083.
doi.org/10.23937/2469-567X/1510083
4. Patrick Mbulaje et al. Effects of COVID-19 on HIV services: the case of Malawi. PAMJ -
One Health. 2021;5:1. [doi: 10.11604/pamj-oh.2021.5.1.27607]
Asides the ones listed above which are only a few, there are a good number of other articles that
will help with the building of the paper.
Finally, the introduction should be worked on to make it conclusive. For example, what is the
situational analysis of HIV prevalence in Nigeria, Africa and globally? What is the status of
routine care pre COVID-19 era? , etc. Rather than having an introduction that mostly dwells on
cervical cancer and COVID-19 when routine HIV care is a core component of the topic.
In conclusion, this is to say a big well done again to the author(s). Your ability to pull this off
is very admirable even though it can be fine-tuned for a better result.