PONE-D-21-39990Reduction in malaria burden following the introduction of indoor residual spraying in areas protected by long lasting insecticidal nets in Western Kenya, 2016 – 2018PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Dulacha,

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Additional Editor Comments:

This is a good manuscript that will be acceptable for publication once the authors address the minor revisions raised by the reviewer.

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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

Reviewer #1: Yes

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Reviewer #1: No

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Reviewer #1: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: This article reports on large-scale vector control measures conducted in a malaria-endemic areas of Western Kenya around Lake Victoria from 2016-2018. It aims to evaluate the effect of pyrethroid LLINs with and without non-pyrethroid IRS on malaria in a high malaria transmission area, annual entomological inoculation rates of 97 30 – 100 [16].

This study uses data of the recent large-scale LLIN/IRS undertaken in this subregion and as such these results deserves publication in a journal like PLOSone but some changes are required.

1. This study is based on data from two sub-counties, Nyatike, and 49 Suba, located on the shore of Lake Victoria, Western Kenya in adjacent counties, Migori and Homa 95 Bay, where there 96 is intense malaria transmission throughout the year. The interventions reported on were conducted from February 1, 2016 to 50 March 31, 2018.

--Please add a comment on how representative the data from Nyatike and Suba are of data from this subregion.

2. The authors state that “Kenya conducted three free mass net distribution campaigns in 2011–2012, 2014–2015, and 2017–2018”.

--Details of the date(s) and organisation(s) responsible for net distribution should be stated for the sub-counties that provided the data for this article.

3. IRS was conducted in February – March 2017 in Nyatike but not in Suba. One year later both Nyatike and Suba sub-counties received IRS.

--Please add details of the organisation responsible for IRS for these two sub-counties and the reason for some counties receiving IRS and not others.

4. Two health facilities, one from Nyatike and one from Suba sub-county, provided out-patient data from February 1, 2016, to March 31, 2018. The data included outpatient department attendance, suspected malaria cases, those tested for malaria and those testing positive for malaria.

--was the data collection blinded?

--was it double entered?

5. lines 177 -180. “..entered data into MS Excel for cleaning”. Excel is a spreadsheet application and not a data management programme. Was the data double entered?

6. Line 187. “Months with missing values were imputed”. Please add the frequency that months were missing.

7. The authors have omitted line numbers from Table 1 onwards.

8. Results are clearly presented.

9. The discussion could be more succinct

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Reviewer #1: No

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Reduction in malaria burden following the introduction of indoor residual spraying in areas protected by long-lasting insecticidal nets in Western Kenya, 2016 – 2018

PONE-D-21-39990R1

Dear Dr. Dulacha,

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,

Jan Rychtar

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Additional Editor Comments (optional):

The authors addressed the comments raised in the previous round of reviews and the manuscript can now be accepted for the publication.

Reviewers' comments: