PONE-D-20-16745

Evaluating changes in the prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting among 0-14 years old girls in Nigeria using data from multiple surveys: A novel Bayesian hierarchical spatio-temporal model

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Nnanatu,

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Kind regards,

Kannan Navaneetham, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

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Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: I Don't Know

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Generally:

1. what is the reason combined different year data set?

2.why not use the informative prior?

3.how to handle the missing values? please explain the algorithm to solve these this problems.

4. why not separate these discussion and conclusion?

Reviewer #2: • Well written

• Please refer to the Fig 1. The labelling of the diagram is wrong as the States in the South East of Nigeria were labelled as South South and vice versa.

• Kindly go through all the statistical reports to be sure there is no mix-up of data reported for the various geographical zones and if any, please make appropriate corrections throughout the manuscript.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: comments to authors.docx

Evaluating changes in the prevalence of female genital mutilation/cutting among 0-14 years old girls in Nigeria using data from multiple surveys: A novel Bayesian hierarchical spatio-temporal model

PONE-D-20-16745R1

Dear Dr. Nnanatu,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Kannan Navaneetham, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

Reviewers' comments: