Reviewer ’s report  
 
Title: "Self -development Matters" - Perception of Sakhis (C HWs) assessing self -development 
outcomes of their pa rticipation in the HBNC Program  
 
Version: 3 Date: 26 Dec 2017  
 
Reviewer: Regina Oladokun  
 
Reviewer's report:  
 
Please include all comments for the authors in this box rather than uploading your report as an 
attach ment. Please only upload as attachments annotated versions of manuscripts, graphs, 
supporting materials or other aspects of your report which cannot be included in a text format.  
 
 
 
Comments  
 
This paper is a follow up of a previous paper on "Surmounting difficulties to provide home based 
neonatal care - reflections of community health workers".  The current paper examines the aspect 
of community health programme implementation from the point of  view of how the community 
health workers (Sakhis) perceive their own self development and empowerment.  The topic is 
relevant as it may be important in the sustainability of the good outcome hitherto recorded by the 
community health programme.  
 
 
 
The paper  is fairly well written.  A few errors need to be corrected.   
 
 
The abstract has abbreviations that need to be written in full before subsequent use. E.g HBNC  
 
Line 48, page 5: "Presently the ASHA play are playing a pivotal role ----" 
 
Should read: Present ly the ASHA play a pivotal role --- 
 
Line 19, page 6: " ---- and neonates on their selves".  
 
Should read: -----and neonates on themselves  
 
Line 22, page 8:  'The data presented is -------- ' 
 
Should read:  The data presented are ---- 
 
 
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 control s 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 recomm end 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 indicat e 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 fiv e 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 ca n 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 und erstand that my name will be included 
on my report to the authors and, if the manuscript is accepted for publication, my named report 
including any attachments I upload will be posted on the website 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 nam ed report can be included as confidential comments 
to the editors, which will not be published.  
 
I agree to the open peer review policy of the journal