Title: Uptake of prevention of mother-to-child transmission cascade services in Burkina Faso
between 2013 and 2020: are we on the right track?
Version: 2 Date: 12 Sep 2022
Reviewer's report:
Manuscript title: Uptake of prevention of mother-to-child transmission cascade services in
Burkina Faso between 2013 and 2020: are we on the right track?
Journal: BMC Women's Health
The authors in this manuscript addressed the uptake of the PMTCT services in Burkina Faso.  It’s
a good paper and interesting subject. However, I have some comments and recommendations.
The manuscript can be suitable for publication if the authors take into account the comments
and recommendations.
General comments:
- Put a space between the percentage and the number. Please correct
- P-value is not harmonized in all the text. Choose p-value or p. Please correct
- There are some english issues and I recommend the authors to send the manuscript to a native
speaker for correction before to re-submit.
Major comments
Results
- What is the proportion of infants tested HIV positive and receiving ART?
Discussion
- The decrease in 2019 could be partly explained by the repeated strikes by healthcare workers
that year. How long were the strikes to impact on PMTCT services? Give the reference of that
justification.
The authors did not discuss the link of changes done in each PMTCT/HIV program with the
results.
Why despite the decentralization,
- the proportion of infants born to HIV-positive mothers receiving full prophylactic ART (%)
decrease in 2019?
- The proportion of pregnant women who were tested for HIV and received their results (%)
decrease between 2015 and 2017?
Minor comments
Abstract
- “The proportion of pregnant women who were tested and received their results significantly
increased from 47.9% to 84.6% in 2020”. Please give the year of the first data. To appreciate
the progression of PMTCT services, it is important to indicate the starting year: from XX % in
(year) to YY % in (year). Please also correct in all the manuscript
- “The proportion of HIV-positive women receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) increased from
90.8% to 100% in 2020, and that of Anti-Retroviral (ARV) prophylaxis in children born to
HIV-positive mothers increased from 64.3% to 86.8% in 2020, with just three regions reaching
national and international targets”. This sentence is confusing. Please reformulate.
Background
- When abbreviation is defined firstly, you can use abbreviated term in the following text. Please
see ANC, ART, ……
- “The first PMTCT/HIV program was implemented between 2001 and 2005 and covered 15%
of all health facilities…” The PMTCT was launched in 2002 at Ouagadougou, Bobo-Dioulasso
and Ouahigouya.  Why did you say 2001?
- “Thus, this study aimed to assess trends in the uptake of PMTCT services from 2013 to
2020 to determine the progress made and identify the roadblocks to achieving the national and
international targets set for 2020 to achieve the overall target of eliminating HIV by 2030.Why
did your study interest from 2013 ?
- “Thus, this study aimed to assess trends in the uptake of PMTCT services from 2013 to
2020 to determine the progress made and identify the roadblocks to achieving the national and
international targets set for 2020 to achieve the overall target of eliminating HIV by 2030. There
are many objectives in the same sentence. Please reformulate.
Methods
- “As the analysis was performed at the population level without reference to information
that would allow the identification of participants, the above ethical committee waived
the requirement for individual informed consent.”  Please delete “above”. Also, give more
information about the consentement. Written? Oral? Etc.
- “However, all the methods were in accordance with the Burkina Faso ethics committee
(CERS)”. Please correct the English .
- “For screening in infants, the first PCR test was performed at two months of age.” The
appropriated term is “early diagnosis”
- “When this test was not performed at two months, it was carried out after, and whether the result
was positive or not, a serology at 18 months post-natal (end of the risk of postnatal transmission
of HIV) was performed. Please be clear about the serology. Rapid test? ELISA?
- “As of 2015, Burkina Faso had a total of 129 single clinics, 13 single maternity wards,
1,694 health and social promotion centres, 39 medical centres, 47 medical centres with surgical
facilities, nine regional hospitals, one national hospital, four university hospitals, and 450 private
health facilities of all types. These data from 2015 are old. Please update.
- “By December 2015, a total of 100 public (75), private (9), faith-based (6), and community (10)
sites provided healthcare support throughout the country’s 13 regions.” What is the difference
with previous sentence? The previous sentence resume the number of healthcare centers in all
Burkina Faso. So, I suggest to delete this point.
Results
- «Boucle du Mouhon ». The correct name is Boucle du Mouhoun. Please correct.
- Table 2: What mean Not applicable. Is it Not available or not applicable?
- Table 2: there is star * and ** in p-value. Please a footnote at the end of the table.