Reviewer’s report
Title: How Gender and Religion Impact Uptake of Family Planning: Results from a Qualitative study  
in Northwestern Tanzania
Version: 0 Date: 16 Feb 2019
Reviewer: Tom Lutalo
Reviewer's report:
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Thank you for your manuscript draft. The work on how religion impacts on FP is a major contribution  
to the growing body of knowledge. However I do have some issues with some elements of this draft. 
1. There are multiple publications on the gender aspects of family planning in sub-Saharan Africa. I do  
not agree that the author's contribution on gender aspects is a major contribution to the body of  
knowledge as what they observe is already in the literature. In the Introduction, the authors should  
include some of the published work on Gender related issues concerning FP. 
2. Again in the Introduction, the authors provide literature on reported unmet need for Family Planning  
(61%) but do not have any literature on information about FP in the researched community or region.  
This introduction should lead us to the author's hypothesis and the reason they decided to take on this  
study. In other words all that has been done on this topic should be reported (I know the authors can do  
a literature search on this) and then inform the reader the gap your study tries to fill.
3. The authors should also provide the reader with a more comprehensive description of the FGD  
participants if they took note of this. Were the majority married? Were they with living children? Were  
they all/some users/non users of FP? Were the men all heads of households? I believe these sub groups  
may have to be considered during the analyses. 
4. The author's mention reason for carrying out this study as ".. to explore knowledge, religious beliefs,  
and current practice regarding family planning" (Page 5, line 22-24). However in Results I fail to figure  
out whether the gender aspects reported are the ones about "knowledge". I read about religious beliefs  
but also fail to get where the authors report on "current practice". It may be better for the results and  
discussion to be organized to cover the objectives of the study as stated. The authors also have another  
objective of  "potential for interventions within religious groups". Discuss all the findings of these  
objectives. 
5. You added Catholics to the other Pentecostal/Protestant members. I would be interested to know  
whether there are any (major?) differentials in perceptions between these two if this is possible to be  
mined from these data.
6. The authors can also provide in the introduction some of the literature about the interpretation of  
scriptures about family planning (a lot has been written about Genesis 1:28; Psalm 127, verses 3-5;  
1Timothy 5:8; Genesis Chapter 38). You may also provide some interpretations from the Quran
7. Were the participants asked how they got to their interpretation of the scriptures? I read this may not  
be happening in their areas of worship
I believe the study is majorly  providing an insight in the religious aspect of FP: the community  
perspective as other areas have been researched upon in many studies.
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.
Unable to assess
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
Quality of written English
Please indicate the quality of language in the manuscript:
Acceptable
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