Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Mail & Guardian Online - June 16, 2007
Vicki Robinson
A Stats SA report, Mortality and Causes, released on Thursday found that between 2004 and 2005 the number of recorded deaths increased by 3,3%.
"The first three leading underlying natural causes of death in 2005 were tuberculosis, influenza and pneumonia," the report noted. More than 59 000 deaths from disease were recorded in 2005.
The number of deaths was highest in the age groups 0-4 years old and 30-34 years old -- the age categories traditionally hardest hit by HIV and Aids. The death rate was lowest in the 10-14 age group. Female deaths increased by 3,9%, while male deaths increased by 2,7% between 2004 and 2005.
The report noted that diseases causing increased deaths in 2005 were HIV and diabetes.
The report was careful not to associate HIV with the three leading causes of death -- TB, flu and pneumonia -- noting that the virus was the tenth leading cause of natural death.
However, Neil Martinson, a researcher at the perinatal HIV research unit at Wits University, said: "TB is a proxy for HIV, which is the underlying disease in 80% to 90% of TB deaths."
Martinson said a quarter of all patients admitted to hospital with TB died within two days of admission, making it very difficult for doctors to record the true cause of death on death certificates accurately.
As a result, the true number of deaths from HIV, as opposed to those recorded by Stats SA, which relied on death certificates for their research, was likely to be much higher.
Provincially, KwaZulu-Natal registered the highest number of deaths, at 23,4%, followed by Gauteng (18,2%). "The overall number of deaths shows a continuous increase from 1997 to 2005," the report found.
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