PONE-D-24-21886Gender perspectives on zoonotic disease epidemiology; A Strength Weakness Opportunities Threats analysis in Bundibugyo district, Uganda.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Kankya,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

Additional Editor Comments:

In addition to specific comments from three reviewers, please:

- Modify the figure 1. I advise you to use freely accessible layers and Geographic Information System software to generate your own map showing precise study sites.

- Line 202-203: Where is the final list of prioritized zoonoses

- 375 – 387: What is the relevance of this paragraph to your study findings?

- Check for the manuscript for the many typos. Examples are:

o Line 125: Missing word in the sentence ending with “Lake Albert to the…”

o Line 126: The sentence is incomplete

o 196-197: Themes c and d are the same.

o Line 202: Is Swine fever a zoonoses? Clarify why it was included

o 306-307: “Importance of” is repeated twice

Please submit your revised manuscript by Aug 24 2024 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

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We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Anselme Shyaka, Ph.D

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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We acknowledge funding obtained from Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) through the NORHED-II Program and the project Climate Change and Infectious Diseases - A One Health Approach (CIDIMOH), grant number 68802. 

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We acknowledge funding obtained from Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) through the NORHED-II Program and the project Climate Change and Infectious Diseases - A One Health Approach (CIDIMOH), grant number 68802. 

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

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

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #2: N/A

Reviewer #3: N/A

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3. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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4. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

Reviewer #3: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1:  Authors addressed clearly aspects related on the Gender perspectives on zoonotic disease epidemiology using a SWOT analysis in Bundibugyo a district of Uganda. The methodology is fitting the results presented in the manuscript and the topic is actually relevant for the control of zoonotic diseases in the country an the sub-region.

Therefore some comments are proposed to improve this manuscript:

>Line 73: Better to put a citation (s) for this sentence

>Line 76: remove the coma at the beginning of the sentence

>Line 87: In my opinion, not all men are playing such role except where this gender role can be played, so reformulate the sentence.

>Line 137: Is it possible to make clear the district of study by extracting it from the map of Uganda. There the borders could be well visible.

>147: make a correction on this sentence : All participants mostly understood English.

How about to include also participants who didn't get a formal education; because zoonotic diseases mitigation can not be limited to knowledge. Illiteracy can maybe play a role of their spread and therefore constitute a weakness for their control. What do you think on this?

>Line 288: diseases

>Line 310: In this paragraph, the capture on how diseases manifest and traverse along lines of gender is not clearly stated.

Also, Check if some of the opportunities although mentioned by participants are not likely to be part of the Strength for zoonotic diseases management, prevention and control

>Line 435: remove the citation in the conclusion

Reviewer #2:  - there were some unclear sentences with some run-ons, that i've noted in the attachment. Suggestions on improving sentence construction were also made to clarify some statements

- examples of questions from the IDI, KII, and FGD would be helpful, if authors will oblige

- suggest for the authors to proofread the entire report again, as the abstract has an obvious mistake (opportunities mentioned twice, no threats)

Reviewer #3:  The study explores gender perspectives on zoonotic disease epidemiology

using a (strength, weakness, opportunities and threats) SWOT analysis in Bundibugyo district in Uganda.

The study adopts the SWOT analysis. While the authors have made good effort to do so across the key elements, there is need for further clarity within each SWOT element in the discussion session. This should be done by highlighting the gendered aspects in each element e.g. in discussing a strength, discuss how it is a strength for men, for women and why.

The authors should also look within the uploaded document and address specific comments mentioned.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

Reviewer #3: Yes:  Esther Leah Achandi

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Attachments

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-24-21886 - with comments.pdf

Attachment

Submitted filename: PONE-D-24-21886_reviewer_7072024.pdf

PONE-D-24-21886R1Gender perspectives on zoonotic disease epidemiology; A Strength Weakness Opportunities Threats analysis in Bundibugyo district, Uganda.PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Kankya,

Thank you for submitting your manuscript to PLOS ONE. After careful consideration, we feel that it has merit but does not fully meet PLOS ONE’s publication criteria as it currently stands. Therefore, we invite you to submit a revised version of the manuscript that addresses the points raised during the review process.

==============================Please ensure that your decision is justified on PLOS ONE’s publication criteria  and not, for example, on novelty or perceived impact.

For Lab, Study and Registered Report Protocols: These article types are not expected to include results but may include pilot data. 

==============================

Please submit your revised manuscript by May 12 2025 11:59PM. If you will need more time than this to complete your revisions, please reply to this message or contact the journal office at plosone@plos.org . When you're ready to submit your revision, log on to https://www.editorialmanager.com/pone/ and select the 'Submissions Needing Revision' folder to locate your manuscript file.

Please include the following items when submitting your revised manuscript:

• A rebuttal letter that responds to each point raised by the academic editor and reviewer(s). You should upload this letter as a separate file labeled 'Response to Reviewers'.
• A marked-up copy of your manuscript that highlights changes made to the original version. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Revised Manuscript with Track Changes'.
• An unmarked version of your revised paper without tracked changes. You should upload this as a separate file labeled 'Manuscript'.

If you would like to make changes to your financial disclosure, please include your updated statement in your cover letter. Guidelines for resubmitting your figure files are available below the reviewer comments at the end of this letter.

If applicable, we recommend that you deposit your laboratory protocols in protocols.io to enhance the reproducibility of your results. Protocols.io assigns your protocol its own identifier (DOI) so that it can be cited independently in the future. For instructions see: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-laboratory-protocols . Additionally, PLOS ONE offers an option for publishing peer-reviewed Lab Protocol articles, which describe protocols hosted on protocols.io. Read more information on sharing protocols at https://plos.org/protocols?utm_medium=editorial-email&utm_source=authorletters&utm_campaign=protocols .

We look forward to receiving your revised manuscript.

Kind regards,

Ayi Vandi Kwaghe, D.V.M., M.V.Sc., P.G.D.E. Ph.D., MPH, FETP

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Please review your reference list to ensure that it is complete and correct. If you have cited papers that have been retracted, please include the rationale for doing so in the manuscript text, or remove these references and replace them with relevant current references. Any changes to the reference list should be mentioned in the rebuttal letter that accompanies your revised manuscript. If you need to cite a retracted article, indicate the article’s retracted status in the References list and also include a citation and full reference for the retraction notice.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. If the authors have adequately addressed your comments raised in a previous round of review and you feel that this manuscript is now acceptable for publication, you may indicate that here to bypass the “Comments to the Author” section, enter your conflict of interest statement in the “Confidential to Editor” section, and submit your "Accept" recommendation.

Reviewer #1: All comments have been addressed

Reviewer #4: All comments have been addressed

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

The manuscript must describe a technically sound piece of scientific research with data that supports the conclusions. Experiments must have been conducted rigorously, with appropriate controls, replication, and sample sizes. The conclusions must be drawn appropriately based on the data presented.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

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

Reviewer #1: N/A

Reviewer #4: (No Response)

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4. Have the authors made all data underlying the findings in their manuscript fully available?

The PLOS Data policy requires authors to make all data underlying the findings described in their manuscript fully available without restriction, with rare exception (please refer to the Data Availability Statement in the manuscript PDF file). The data should be provided as part of the manuscript or its supporting information, or deposited to a public repository. For example, in addition to summary statistics, the data points behind means, medians and variance measures should be available. If there are restrictions on publicly sharing data—e.g. participant privacy or use of data from a third party—those must be specified.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

5. Is the manuscript presented in an intelligible fashion and written in standard English?

PLOS ONE does not copyedit accepted manuscripts, so the language in submitted articles must be clear, correct, and unambiguous. Any typographical or grammatical errors should be corrected at revision, so please note any specific errors here.

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #4: Yes

**********

6. Review Comments to the Author

Please use the space provided to explain your answers to the questions above. You may also include additional comments for the author, including concerns about dual publication, research ethics, or publication ethics. (Please upload your review as an attachment if it exceeds 20,000 characters)

Reviewer #1: Authors touched a topic addressing the Gender perspectives on zoonotic disease epidemiology; A Strength Weakness

Opportunities Threats analysis in Bundibugyo district, Uganda. They responded correctly all the comments from the reviewers.

Reviewer #4: The authors of the manuscript entitled: Gender perspectives on zoonotic disease epidemiology; A Strength Weakness Opportunities Threats analysis in Bundibugyo district, Uganda, have improved the presentation of the work by addressing all comments from reviewers.

This paper would have been beneficial if a list of zoonotic diseases mentioned by the respondents are provided before the ranking?. Whereas SWOT approach was used, it not very clear how it was deployed across KIIs, Indepth interviews and FGDs (This could be provided as supplementary files including checklists that were used). It was not clear on who conducted different interviews, and which language was used.

In the methods sections, 7 sub-counties were considered in the study area, it is not clear on how the respondents for different categories of interviews were selected in 7- sub-counties (A supplementary table) may be need to clarify the approaches used in the selection of respondents.

Some sections in the discussion seem to divert from the subject matter and introduce most the previously reported assertions

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7. PLOS authors have the option to publish the peer review history of their article (what does this mean? ). If published, this will include your full peer review and any attached files.

If you choose “no”, your identity will remain anonymous but your review may still be made public.

Do you want your identity to be public for this peer review? For information about this choice, including consent withdrawal, please see our Privacy Policy .

Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #4: Yes:  Lawrence Mugisha

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While revising your submission, please upload your figure files to the Preflight Analysis and Conversion Engine (PACE) digital diagnostic tool, https://pacev2.apexcovantage.com/ . PACE helps ensure that figures meet PLOS requirements. To use PACE, you must first register as a user. Registration is free. Then, login and navigate to the UPLOAD tab, where you will find detailed instructions on how to use the tool. If you encounter any issues or have any questions when using PACE, please email PLOS at figures@plos.org . Please note that Supporting Information files do not need this step.

Gender perspectives on zoonotic disease epidemiology; A Strength Weakness Opportunities Threats analysis in Bundibugyo district, Uganda.

PONE-D-24-21886R2

Dear Dr. Kankya,

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,

Ayi Vandi Kwaghe, D.V.M., M.V.Sc., P.G.D.E. Ph.D., MPH, FETP

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional): All comments were addressed by the authors.

Reviewers' comments: