Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: Modern Contraceptive Use among Postpartum Women l iving with HIV Attending Mother 
Baby Care Points in Kabarole District, Uganda  
 
Version: 2 Date: 14 May 2019  
 
Reviewer: Deborah Lynn Billings  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
I want to thank the authors for carefully considering and addressing each of the comments that I 
made in my lengthy and detailed review of their initial submission.  I think that the revised 
manuscript is greatly strengthened and have just two precise observations, which I include 
below. This is an important contribution to the literature.   
 
Please be consisten t with the use of the term "women" and "mothers. The title of the article refers 
to "mothers" as does the Methods section of the abstract, as well as sections of the main text. 
"Women" is used in the Background section of the abstract and throughout the ar ticle. There 
must be a grounded reason that the authors use one term versus another at different points and 
that reason should be made explicit to the reader (Please note that this reviewer made a similar 
comment in my first review of this manuscript and t he authors responded, "Response: Thank you 
for this guidance, we have edited the manuscript replacing the term "mother" with "woman" or 
"women".).  
 
Please note that in the abstract (methods/results), it would be helpful to note that researchers 
aimed to i nterview 369 women and when that sample size was reached, recruitment stopped 
(thereby resulting in a 100% response rate).  Note: if there is not space within the word count for 
this observation to be made, do not feel the need to cut other words to make t his point. It is now 
made in the revised main text.  
 
From my first review and the authors response: "Comment: Please define where the interviews 
were held and who conducted the interviews?  Were the interviewers staff at the care points?  (if 
so, this cou ld compromise the quality of the data); Response: In line 169 - 174, we have stated 
who conducted the interviews, place and language.  Please note that the local language is spelled 
two different ways in lines 172, 174. Please make this consistent.  
 
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 manus cript or would you recommend an 
additional statistical review?  
If an additional statistical review is recommended, please speci fy what aspects require further 
assessment in your comments to the editors.  
 
I am able to assess the statistics  
 
Quality 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 question s: 
 
1.  Have you in the past five years received reimbursements, f ees, funding, or salary 
from an organisation that may in any way gain or lose financial ly from the 
publication of this manuscript, either now or in the future?  
 
2.  Do you hold any stocks or sha res in an organisation t hat 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 re ceived 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 interes ts 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.  
 
I declare that I have no competing interests.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal. I understan d that my name will  be included 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted f or publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the websi te along with the authors'  
responses. I agree for my report to be made available under an Open Access Creative Commons 
CC-BY license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ ). I understand that any comments 
which I do not wish to be included in my name d report can be in cluded as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal