Eric O Udjo
University of South Africa, South Africa
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Womens Health Care
Despite the increasing prominence of non-communicable diseases globally, communicable diseases dominate non-communicable diseases as causes of death in Africa. It has been estimated that infectious diseases accounted for about 69% of total deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2010. Due to the absence or limited coverage of vital registration system, the dynamics of communicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa is unknown. Aside Mauritius, South Africa is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa with a long history of death registration dating back to the early 20th century and with coverage of registration exceeding 80% according to estimates. However, focus on communicable diseases in South Africa has been mainly on HIV/AIDS and recently, on tuberculosis. Although Statistics South Africa periodically publishes mortality and causes of death, the report largely focuses specifically on a particular year. Also, the scope of the reports is broad and the quality of the data taken at face value. Thus, there is limited knowledge about the dynamics of communicable diseases in South Africa. The overall goal of this study is to contribute to our knowledge on the dynamics of communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa specifically focusing on South Africa. The specific objectives are to: Estimate trends in age standardised death rates due to communicable diseases, 1997-2013 nationally; Examine provincial differences in age standardised death rates, 1997-2013; Examine trends in age standardised death rates in broad categories of communicable diseases nationally and; Estimate life table median survival times from communicable diseases mortality as insight to broad age pattern in communicable diseases mortality. The numerator of the estimates in the study utilised South Africa�s death registration data spanning the period 1997-2013. Evaluation of the quality of these data was an integral part of the estimates. The denominator of the estimates utilised mid-year population estimates. The methods consisted of computing age standardised death rates, estimating the denominator for computing the rates and estimating life table median survival times. The results indicated that the percentage contribution of communicable diseases deaths to total deaths might have declined since 2006 in South Africa, but communicable diseases still contribute at least a third of total deaths as of 2013. Of the nine provinces in South Africa, the Free State had the highest crude death rates from communicable diseases during the period 1997-2013 controlling for changes in age structure while the Western Cape had the least crude death rate during the period. Despite the availability and roll out of anti-retroviral therapy, death rate from HIV/AIDS as underlying cause of death, increased during the period 1997-2013. This is inconsistent with the claim by Statistics South Africa.
Email: bororue@yahoo.com
